Remember
by princessjoey630
Summary: After an explosion, Ziva can't remember the last seven years. A startling revelation sends the team into a spin, but can they manage to find the culprit of the original attack? Tiva.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS. Other people do. If I owned it I would be living it up in Paris. Or Rome. Or L.A.

Or Santa Clarita so I could stake out the NCIS set. :P

A/N This is my first post-publishing hiatus story. I hope you like it!

* * *

Chapter 1

"Ziva!" Tony yelled through the door.

A nurse was holding him out of the room. "Sir, you have to-"

"She's my partner-"

The nurse blinked at him. "You're her husband?"

Tony seized the opportunity. "Yes."

The nurse let him in.

"Ziva," Tony said as he knelt next to her bed, grasping her hand. A team of six doctors were working on her.

"Tony?" Ziva said, slightly dazed. Suddenly she seemed to snap.

"Grand mal seizure," one of the doctors exclaimed. Tony kept a firm hold on her hand.

The seizure stopped.

"We have to get an O.R, she's bleeding out," another doctor said.

Ziva opened her eyes and looked at Tony. She was covered in blood and sweat and was trembling uncontrollably. "Tony-"

"It's okay, you're okay," he said. She looked away.

"I'm going to-"

"Ziva, look at me. Look at me," he repeated. When he was sure her eyes were locked on his, he spoke again. "You. Will. Be. Fine. You will be alright," he said slowly.

She stopped breathing.

"Code Blue! Take her to O.R 1, stat," a doctor said. Before Tony could say anything, they wheeled her from the room.

It was all fresh in his mind. Entering the warehouse, Ziva racing ahead. The beeping noise, then seeing Ziva fly into the air with the force of the explosion.

"Excuse me, sir?" A nurse was standing next to him. "You're bleeding."

Tony wiped the cut on her forehead and examined the blood on his sleeve. "I'm fine."

"Come with me," The nurse said kindly. She led him from the room.

* * *

_"Ziva, wait! We don't know what's in there!"_

_"It's only a-" BOOM._

The conversation kept playing over and over in his head as he stood in the middle of the waiting room.

"Mr DiNozzo?" a nurse asked tentatively.

"What?" Tony replied, not taking his eyes off of the operating room doors through which they'd taken Ziva.

His friend. His partner.

"She's back in her room. The surgery went well, but she'll be monitored closely for the next few days."

Tony followed the nurse to the room.

* * *

Ziva was lying on the bed like a toy soldier, her face partially obstructed by her oxygen mask.

"I'll give you a moment," the nurse said, closing the door as she left.

Tony stepped forward and put his hands on her feet. Outside he could hear that Gibbs and Jenny had finally arrived.

Slowly he moved so he was sitting on a chair next to her. He brushed some stray strands of hair off her face and looked at her.

On her face alone there were two rows of stitches; one next to her right ear and another along part of her hairline. Her right arm was more lacerated than her left - probably when she landed on the debris. Under the blankets he knew there were more bandages.

One of the machines beeped loudly. Ziva's eyes were moving under their lids.

Tony reached out and took her hand carefully.

She squeezed his fingers.

"Ziva," Tony breathed. Her eyes opened slowly and she pulled her mask off.

"Jamal?"

Tony released her hand. "I'm Tony."

"Where's Jamal? Where's Chaim?"

"Who?"

"Jamal! Chaim! Where are they?" Ziva demanded, becoming hysterical.

"Ziva, it's me, T-"

"WHERE IS JAMAL? WHERE IS CHAIM?" she yelled. A nurse rushed in, trying to sedate her.

Crestfallen, Tony left the room.

* * *

"What the hell did you do?" Gibbs asked when Tony came out of the room. They could still hear Ziva screaming even after the door was closed.

"Nothing," Tony said. A doctor brushed passed them and entered the room.

"I want Chaim! Where is he?" Ziva was yelling, tears running down her face.

"It's alright, Miss David," the doctor said.

"Who does she want?" Jenny asked as they moved closer to the doorway.

"Jamal and Chaim," Tony said.

"Who?"

"I have no idea."

They watched as the doctor shone a light into Ziva's eyes.

"Do you know your name?"

"Ziva David," she replied.

"What year is it?"

"2008. Where is Chaim?"

The doctor sat down on her bed. "Who is Chaim?"

Ziva blinked at her. "My son."

* * *

A/N Please review!! I'm so excited about this story...I already have the first 11 chapters written. Yay!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you for all the reviews! Very much appreciated and loved. :)

This chapter is for Elle because she made my day with her update of 'Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response' (read it if you haven't -- /s/4201749/1)

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 2

Tony fumbled with the keys as he unlocked Ziva's front door, distracted by his thoughts.

Ziva had a son? That probably meant Jamal was her husband. Why hadn't she told him she was married with a baby?

Tony was hurt. He cared very much for Ziva, more than a friend, and then it turned out she already had a family. He needed proof.

Finally he got the door open. He'd been in their before, so nothing really surprised him. The only change she'd made was swapping the couch and seat positions. There was still no T.V set.

Tony flicked his eyes to the mantel. No photos, except for the one of the NCIS team at last years' Christmas party.

He walked into the bedroom. It was tidy, but he knew better. He opened the wardrobe and was hit by several falling objects. He reached in to check for other boxes at the back.

Nothing.

Sighing, he put everything back and walked towards the door. He heard a cracking noise under his feet. "Ah, crap," he said. He knelt down and moved the blue rug he was standing on.

A floorboard had come loose.

He carefully picked up the floorboard and looked under it. Inside was a box. Reaching down he pulled it up by the sides and carried it to the bed.

Tony was breathing harder. This box must be secret. Why else hide it under the floor?

He opened the lid and took out the top two items.

The first was a blue woolen baby bootee, very clean but it looked as though it had been worn. The second was a small toy bear that was missing an eye.

Tony was beginning to realize the truth. Gently putting the bootee and bear aside, he reached in and pulled out a photo album. He opened the cover.

The first photo was of a wedding. The bride was obviously Ziva. Her long hair was up and she was smiling up at the groom.

There were several more wedding photos, each one causing more tears to form in Tony's eyes. He had never seen Ziva as happy as she was at her wedding.

_Her wedding_. Why hadn't she told him?

Finally there was a shot of a wedding cake. On the top were words written in icing: _Ziva and Jamal._

So Jamal was her husband.

A few more wedding shots, then some of what looked like Jamal and Ziva on their honeymoon, moving into a new house, and just random shots, mostly of Ziva.

Tony kept staring at her face. This was a different side of Ziva. Happy. Open.

Then he was shocked. He knew that, obviously, to have a baby of her own Ziva would have had to have been pregnant, but he wasn't prepared to actually see her in that state. She looked positively radiant.

There were a few photos from her pregnancy, but then they changed to scenes from a hospital, Ziva holding a little baby wrapped in a blue blanket, possibly the cutest baby Tony had ever seen. He could read the baby's name bracelet - Chaim.

The photos that followed were from Chaim's childhood. He was a very loved little boy; in nearly every shot Ziva was either running after him with her arms open or squeezing him tight.

Tony shut the album, tears silently and slowly running down his face. _Why hadn't she told him?_

Putting the album back into the box, he pulled out several envelopes.

They all contained letters. Tony pulled them all out and read the end of each one.

_I love you and Chaim so much, and I hope to be home soon._

_Jamal._

_Two more weeks and I shall be with you._

_I miss you both,_

_Jamal._

_Three more days._

_I love you._

Tony piled everything back into the box carried it to the car. Taking a moment to pull himself together, he drove back to NCIS.

* * *

"DiNozzo, where are you?" Gibbs said into the phone. "I've been calling for nearly an hour."

"_I'm nearly at NCIS now. I went to Ziva's place to…to-"_

"Find proof of her family," Gibbs said. He could tell this was hard on Tony; it was hard on everyone.

"_Yeah."_

"Alright." Gibbs hung up. He'd spent the last ten minutes calling everyone on his team to make sure they were okay. Abby was now at the hospital watching Ziva. Ducky was performing an autopsy. Jenny and McGee were both sitting in the squadroom.

"What exactly happened?" Jenny asked.

"We'll let Tony answer that. He'll be here soon."

Sure enough, Tony stepped into the squadroom minutes later, carrying the box.

"What's that?" McGee asked. Tony put it down on his desk and sat on his chair.

"What happened at the scene, Tony?" Jenny said, intent on getting an answer this time.

Tony took a deep breath. "We got to the warehouse. We were going to bust two Marines who were manufacturing ice."

"You'll be happy to know that we traced them to being just outside of Fairfax. LEO's are bringing them in now," Gibbs said.

"Continue," Jenny said.

Tony stared at the box.

"_I'm just saying, most women prefer to let men do the dirty work and follow behind them," Tony said as he closed his car door._

"_Ha! You are very much mistaken," Ziva replied._

"_Right…"_

_They approached the warehouse. "Can you see in the window?" Tony asked._

"_No, but I don't think anyone is in there."_

"_Why?"_

"_Can't hear anything."_

_They opened the door._

"_NCIS!" Tony said loudly. The room was filled with rows and rows of shelves, much like supermarket aisles._

_Ziva walked forward. "I'll take the side room," she smiled. "Just to show that women can take the lead." She opened the door._

_"Ziva, wait! We don't know what's in there!"_

_"It's only a-" BOOM._

"Tony?" Jenny was standing directly in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"It's my fault," he said quietly.

"What?"

Tony spoke louder. "It's my fault."

"How is it your fault? Did you make the bomb go off?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's not your fault."

Tony quickly explained what had happened. "If I hadn't said women don't take the lead she wouldn't have gone into that room and she wouldn't be lying in a hospital right now."

"Tony, it's alright," Jenny said kindly. "You didn't know there was a bomb in there. And I don't want to hear otherwise," she added sternly as he opened his mouth to speak again.

"What did you find at her place?" Gibbs asked. Tony pushed the box towards him.

"This was all I could find. It was under a loose floorboard," he said quietly. Gibbs pulled out the bootee and bear and passed them to Jenny.

"Oh my…" she said. Gibbs pulled out the photo album.

"Just photos from her wedding…honeymoon…baby…everything," Tony said. This was surreal. Ziva sure had kept a big secret.

"Do we know when the photos are from?" McGee asked.

"No," Tony said. "We got nothing."

Gibbs head slapped him. "Ouch, Boss, what was that for?"

"This photo is dated on the back," Gibbs said. He had pulled out a picture of Jamal, Chaim and Ziva all posing together, smiling up at them. Sure enough, there was a date on the back.

"McGee, start a timeline," Jenny said. She and Gibbs pulled the rest of the photos out and began to arrange them.

* * *

A/N Please review!

I realise a lot of information was revealed in this chapter. If you don't get it or something, message me. (Don't worry, I get confused about the plot to.)

There will be more Tiva soon.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N This chapter is for everyone who reviewed and Elle, because she made me promise to upload it today. Spoilers will get you anywhere... :)

* * *

Chapter 3

About an hour later Jenny had managed to set the photos out. Gibbs had gone down to update Ducky.

"Alright, the wedding photos are from 1997. The photos of Chaim start from 1998 onwards," she said as Gibbs returned. He cast a look at Tony, who had his head in his hands, then directed his attention to the plasma.

"Jen, have you ever looked at her file?"

"Her file only contains Mossad information, nothing personal," Jenny replied. "I'll go and put in a call now."

She left.

"Who'd have thought that nine years ago Ziva had an entire family," McGee said, looking at the family portrait photo that Gibbs had first noticed the date on.

The next half hour passed in silence. Tony had taken the photo and had been staring at it.

Jamal was looking at Chaim, who was laughing. Ziva was holding the little boy, but was smiling directly at the camera.

At Tony.

"Got the file," Jenny announced as she approached them. She handed Gibbs a USB device.

"McGee, get this…doodah working," he said. Jenny smiled, shaking her head.

Ziva's photo appeared on the plasma.

"Ziva Caria David, born in-"

"McGee, get to the part about her family," Gibbs said impatiently.

"Married in 1997 to a Jamal Kilhaad, a year later had a son, Chaim Uri Kilhaad."

"After her father," Jenny said. Gibbs looked at her. "Uri David is the Director of Mossad. Ziva must have named her son after him."

"Continue, McGee."

"Family lived a relatively normal life considering Ziva was Mossad and they lived in Israel."

"Where are they now?" Jenny asked. "Ziva lives alone in Silver Springs."

McGee scrolled down the page. "Oh, no."

"What, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"In 2001 there was a house bombing. Two killed, one seriously injured."

"Jamal and Chaim were killed," Jenny said softly.

"Ziva was flown to a hospital in Tel Aviv after the explosion. She was released two weeks later," McGee continued.

"This is just like you," Jenny said quietly to Gibbs. He looked at her again. "You were in an explosion, woke up, then was in another explosion, woke up, but you were in the past."

"So Ziva has retro-grade amnesia?"

"It's possible."

"No," Tony said. Everyone looked at him. "She can't have."

"Why not?" Gibbs said.

"Because I was with her in the emergency room before her surgery. She remembered me. She knew my name…" he faded off.

"I'll go back to the hospital, check in on her," Gibbs said. He put everything back into the box and headed for the elevator.

Jenny looked at Tony, who was watching Gibbs leave. "Go with him," she mouthed. Tony leapt up and ran after him.

* * *

"She's awake. She kept asking me where Jamal and Chaim are," Abby said when she was in the corridor with Gibbs. McGee had called Abby the moment Gibbs had left and filled her in.

"Thanks Abs," Gibbs replied, brushing his free hand against hers. He carried the box into Ziva's room.

Abby turned around to see Tony standing behind her. "Tony," she said.

He opened his arms for her.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Abby said, her voice thick with tears. "Of all the things to keep a secret…"

"I know, Abby," Tony said, tears slowly building up in his eyes again. "I know."

* * *

"Hi," Ziva said brightly as Gibbs pulled a chair over to her bed and sat down. She was sitting up in her bed, at least as much as she could with her injuries.

"Hello," he replied.

"Do you know where my husband is? He was supposed to be here ages ago," Ziva said, looking towards the door as if Jamal was going to walk in at any second.

"Do you know who I am?" Gibbs asked, distracting her. She shook her head. "I'm Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, I work at NCIS."

"Just like that forensics girl," Ziva said. "Abby. I like her shoes." It was clear she was still doped up a bit, but the doctor had assured Gibbs when he arrived that it was wearing off fast.

For the next hour Gibbs sat with Ziva, talking about nothing in particular. He knew what he had to do, and knew he must do it soon.

He leant down and pulled the little blue bootee out of the box. Silently he handed it to Ziva.

She examined it carefully. "This is my little boy's. Chaim. He's with his father."

"Ziva," Gibbs said, faltering slightly. He looked down.

It dawned on her. "What…they're not…what?" Tears began welling up in her eyes.

Gibbs told her hand. "They're gone," he said quietly, as carefully as he could.

Ziva looked at him in disbelief, and then the tears began. She began breathing erratically and her pulse meter showed an increase.

"Jamal? Chaim?" She kept saying their names over and over again. Gibbs moved forward and held her still while she sobbed into his shoulder.

A noise in the doorway distracted him. Looking over, Gibbs saw Tony standing there, clearly in pain seeing Ziva fall apart. Gibbs waved him in.

"Ziva?" Gibbs said, pulling her away slightly. "This is my friend, Tony. He's going to stay here with you, alright?"

Ziva didn't respond. Gibbs stood up and went over to Tony.

"Boss, I can't-"

"Tony, she needs you. Go," Gibbs said, and he walked out.

Tony looked at Ziva, watching her cry silently, her face shining with tears.

He sat on her bed and let her fall against him. She began fighting against him, but he held her closer. He wasn't going to let her do this alone.

* * *

A/N Ziva's father was referred to as the Director of Mossad in 'Shalom'. Just thought I'd clarify that.

Also, I suck at writing sad stuff. It's just not my thing.

Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Majorly hyped right now. Downloaded a song sung by Cote de Pablo and have sneaking suspicion that I have found another. Intriguing...

Anyway, ignore my madness. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4

"How is she?" Jenny asked when Tony walked into the squadroom hours later.

"Sleeping," he replied. "Abby's with her."

Jenny continued to stare at him from where she sat at Ziva's desk.

"Took her a while to calm down, then she was quiet for a while, then she went to sleep," Tony explained.

"While you were gone we found this," McGee said, making a file appear on the plasma. "Case file on the Kilhaad residence bombing."

"Anything interesting?" Tony asked.

"Homemade bomb, which gets us nowhere because they were very common at the time."

"So no suspects?"

"No."

Gibbs looked over at Tony. "Stop looking at that, DiNozzo."

Tony stuffed the Kilhaad family photo back under some papers. "What?"

Gibbs stood directly in front of him and bent down to his height. "We will sort this out," he said, taking the photo.

"Why didn't she-"

"I don't know, Tony. But you are going to help her get her memories back."

"Me?"

"You know her better than the rest of the team."

Tony wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or not.

Gibbs' phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"_Gibbs, it's Abby."_

"How is she?" Gibbs said, putting the phone of speaker.

"_She's awake. And better. Kind of. She hasn't been saying much. I think she's trying to remember stuff. Looks like it anyway."_

"Alright. I'm sending McGee there now," Gibbs said. "You get back here."

"_Please let me stay Gibbs. Please."_

Gibbs sighed. "Alright, but make sure you sleep," he said, knowing full well that Abby would stay wide awake to make sure Ziva was alright.

"Boss, why don't you send me there?" Tony said.

"Because you have to sleep," Gibbs said.

"But Boss-"

"Why is everyone arguing with me today?" Gibbs said irritably.

"Jethro," Jenny said quietly.

Gibbs sighed. "McGee, go to Ziva now. Stay with Abby. Make sure she sleeps," he said. McGee left. "DiNozzo?"

"Boss?"

"Go home. Get some sleep. You can take the morning shift with Ziva."

Tony picked up his bag and left.

* * *

Once it was just her and Gibbs in the squadroom, Jenny cleared her throat.

Gibbs looked at her. "What?"

"You could try to be a bit nicer to the team."

"What?"

"It's bad enough that Ziva was hurt, but then to find out about her family? It's hard for them."

"It's hard for me too, Jen."

Jenny sighed and looked very uncomfortable.

"What aren't you saying, Jenny?" Gibbs said, noticing this.

"You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"This is basically a repeat of what happened with you."

"I-"

"Let me finish, Jethro," Jenny said forcefully. "You were hurt, that was bad enough. But then we all found out that you had a family and that you couldn't remember us. The only difference between you and Ziva is the amount of time that you've forgotten."

"Jen."

"What? I'm right. We've all been through this before. Except you. All I'm saying is go easy on them a bit."

Gibbs got up from his desk and walked to her. He stayed silent for a moment. "I'm sorry Jenny," he said. Then he left.

* * *

McGee stood in the doorway. Ziva was sleeping again. Abby was sitting next to the bed, whispering at top speed.

"You could have told us about your family we wouldn't have treated you any differently maybe you could have talked to Gibbs about it because he's been through the same thing well no actually because you were with Jamal and Chaim when they died but whatever Chaim is such a cute kid oh no what if you can actually understand what I'm saying even though you're sleeping and it's making you think about your family I'm sorry I-"

"Abby," McGee hissed. Abby dropped Ziva's hand and rushed over to him.

"How's Tony?" she asked.

"Ziva is in a hospital bed and you're asking about Tony?"

"Well…yeah. It's obvious that he likes her. This is probably that hardest on him."

"He's coming in for the morning shift," McGee explained. "Seriously, Abby, I haven't really talked to him," he added as Abby looked murderous.

They sat down on the couch in the corner.

"Gibbs send you to make sure I sleep?" she asked.

"Um……yes."

"How can he expect me to sleep? I can't sleep!" Abby exclaimed.

McGee shushed her. "You'll wake Ziva up."

"McGee-"

"Abby, she'll be fine. We'll sort it out. If anything, Gibbs'll sort it out. He always does. And I know that Tony will make sure she's alright," McGee reassured her. He looked at Abby.

She was asleep.

* * *

Tony was sitting in his hallway, concentrating on bouncing a ball against the opposite wall.

_Floor wall hand. Floor wall hand._

It was one in the morning. Six more hours until he could go and see Ziva.

_Floor wall hand. Floor wall hand._

How was he supposed to help her remember?

_Floor wall hand. Floor wall hand._

He couldn't believe this was happening. A few days ago he and Ziva had been talking about random stupid stuff. Now she was in a hospital bed mourning the loss of her family that no-one else knew about.

_Floor wall hand. Floor wall hand.  
_This was Ziva. The woman he cared about more than he cared about most people.

_Floor wall hand. Floor wall hand._

He had to fix this.

* * *

A/N Please review!

I added the Tony-vs-the-ball scene because that was how I came up with some of the plot for this story. I literally sat against a wall for over an hour throwing a ball at the wall.

Repetitive yet strangely entertaining.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N I like this chapter. I have a thing for flashbacks.

* * *

Chapter 5

Gibbs was sitting at his desk, finishing off the last of his coffee.

The elevator doors opened.

"Uh, Boss? What are you doing here?" Tony asked, slinging his bag down on the floor next to his desk.

"I work here, DiNozzo."

"Generally people don't work at three in the morning."

"Why are you here then?" Gibbs said. Tony shrugged and sat at his desk, shuffling through his papers.

They sat in silence for over three hours.

"Tony?"

"Yeah Boss?"

"What are you doing here?"

Tony put down his pen. He'd gotten through a lot of paperwork done during their silence.

"Couldn't sleep."

Gibbs could see right through him. "And?"

"And…I…I don't know, Boss. I'm just-"

"Worried?"

"Yeah."

Gibbs got up and went over to Tony's desk. "Tony, she'll be fine."

Tony looked at him. "How am I supposed to-"

"You can help her. Don't think about it too much; you'll confuse yourself," Gibbs said. He checked his watch.

0630.

"You can go see her now," he said. "Tell Abby and McGee to get back here."

Tony grabbed his bag and practically ran to the elevator.

* * *

"She's asleep," the nurse said quietly as she led Tony to Ziva's room. "She woke up for a while, and she's been fairly calm. She's sleeping without sedatives, so she will wake up."

"Thank you."

Tony stood in the doorway. McGee and Abby were both sleeping on the couch, Abby with her head resting on McGee's shoulder.

"Hey!" Tony hissed. They began to stir. Thankfully, Ziva remained sleeping.

"What?" McGee mumbled.

"Your shift's over. My turn," Tony said.

Abby squeezed Tony's hand as she and McGee walked out.

Tony put his bag down on the couch and pulled a chair up to the bed. He wasn't going to talk to Ziva until she was awake, and he didn't want to rush anything.

* * *

"_What is this?" Ziva asked, pointing to the picture in the book._

"_Elephant," Chaim said brightly from where he sat on her knee._

"_Very good," Ziva said, kissing his chubby cheek._

"_I'm home!" came a loud voice from the hallway._

"_Daddy!" Chaim squealed, getting up and running out of the room._

_Ziva smiled and headed to the kitchen. She could hear her husband and son greeting each other._

"_Ziva?"_

"_In here!" she said. She put the kettle on and went to go into the hallway._

_BOOM._

"Oh my God," Ziva said, waking with a start.

"Ziva, Ziva, you're alright, it's ok," Tony said, grabbing her hand.

Ziva took a few minutes to return to normal. "You're…Tony, right?" she asked.

Tony tried not to show the pain on his face of her not knowing his name. "Yes, I'm Tony."

"Okay."

They were silent for a moment.

"How long has it been since…since…" Ziva couldn't think of how to say it.

"About seven years," Tony said quietly.

"Oh."

Tony squeezed her hand slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I feel…better. About them not…being here. If that makes sense."

"Like you're getting over it?"

"Yeah. Exactly," Ziva said. "I just can't remember anything else."

"You'll figure it out eventually. It's like a great big secret," Tony said.

_Ziva stood in front of Tony with a desk between them. "What dark, dirty little secrets do you have that are making you so uncomfortable?" she said._

"Woah," Ziva said, dropping Tony's hand.

"What?" Tony replied, worried he had done something.

"We work together, right?" Ziva asked.

"Yes…"

"In an office with desks and orange walls?"

"Yes. You remember something?" Tony said, getting a bit excited.

"I don't think it's anything important," Ziva said. Tony didn't push for more.

"So you get to sit here with me today?" Ziva asked.

"Yep."

"Lucky you."

"Can you remember anything else?" Tony asked.

"No…just Jamal and Chaim really."

"Is that what you were dreaming about?" Tony asked. Ziva stared at him. "You were smiling when you were sleeping."

Ziva blushed. "Yes. I was sitting with Chaim, reading with him. Then Jamal got home…and then…" She faded off. Something she seemed to be doing a lot.

"It's alright, Ziva. I get it," Tony said.

For the next few hours they sat talking. Ziva liked Tony. He was funny and very friendly.

Tony was rather enjoying himself as well.

His phone rang.

"You going to get that?" Ziva said.

Tony check the caller I.D. "It's alright. He can call back later."

"Who?"

"My partner at work. McGee. Actually, he's your partner as well. Timothy McGee."

"Right."

"He'll just want to update me on something…"

"_The only reason I'm asking is because I called him last night to update him and he didn't pick up the phone. He didn't answer this morning either," Ziva said. She was sitting in a car with Gibbs._

"Do you always answer your phone?" Ziva asked.

"Why do you ask?" Tony replied, putting his phone away. "You remember something?"

"I called you…you didn't answer…" Ziva said slowly.

Tony felt very uncomfortable. "Ah. That would have been last year sometime. I didn't always answer my phone then," he explained.

"Why?" Ziva said curiously.

"I was working on a mission." Ziva continued to watch him. "Gee, your Mossad senses still work. Alright, I was working on an undercover mission that involved me dating someone."

"Sounds complicated," Ziva said brightly.

"Yeah," Tony said.

The nurse that had escorted Tony in returned. "Good morning, Officer David," she said. "And Agent DiNozzo."

"Morning."

"Good news. The doctor has decided that you can be discharged in two days if you continue to improve."

"That's good," Tony said, looking happily at Ziva, who seemed very uneasy.

"I'll be back in later to check on you," the nurse said. She walked out of the room.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked Ziva.

Ziva bit her lip for a second. "I have no idea where I live."

"We'll sort everything out. The whole team at NCIS will always be around to help out."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

A/N Seven reviews is my minimum for updating...so...review people! I have the next few chapters ready!


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

A/N This plot is confusing...anyone else getting confused??

* * *

Chapter 6

"So what was actually happening as the bomb went off at the Kilhaad's?" Gibbs asked. It was lunchtime; McGee and Abby had gone to get coffee, Tony was still at the hospital with Ziva and Jenny was in the squadroom with Gibbs.

Jenny pulled the file up on screen. "Huh. It doesn't say," she said, clicking through the page.

Gibbs pulled out his phone and dialled.

"_DiNozzo."_

"You didn't answer McGee's call this morning."

"_I know, I was-"_

"Don't worry about it."

"_Okay…" _

Gibbs could hear Ziva giggling in the background. "I need you to do something."

"_Name it."_

"We need to know what was going on before the bomb went off."

"_Ziva said she'd take the side room-"_

"Not that bomb. The first bomb. With her family."

"_Oh."_

"Take your time. But get an answer." Gibbs hung up.

Jenny was looking pointedly at him.

"What? I was nice."

"I know," she said. She walked off to her office.

* * *

"_Not that bomb. The first bomb. With her family."_

"Oh." Tony wasn't very enthusiastic.

"_Take your time. But get an answer."_

Tony put his phone back in his pocket and turned to face Ziva. She was having nightmares of the past and couldn't remember the present. He didn't want to ask her to relive the worst of it.

"Everything okay?" Ziva asked. She had been enjoying herself immensely.

"Uh…yeah," Tony sighed.

Ziva frowned at him. "Tell me."

Tony sat back down on the bed. "You remember Gibbs?"

"Of course I do. I meet him not that long ago."

Tony shook his head confusedly. "Alright, well, he needs me to do something."

Ziva smiled. "Something fun? Because after a while, this place is boring. Not that you are boring. But this place is."

"Ziva," Tony said seriously. "We need to know what was happening before the bomb went off."

Ziva flinched slightly. "Tony-"

"It's important, Ziva. I wouldn't ask you otherwise," he said softly.

Ziva swallowed. "Ok."

* * *

McGee and Abby were sitting at McGee's desk, watching Gibbs. It had been three hours since he called DiNozzo, and Gibbs was hoping to have an answer by now.

The phone rang.

"I'll answer it," Jenny said. She'd cancelled all of her meetings for the day, claiming there was an emergency at the office.

She picked up the phone. "Tony?"

"_Director. I was looking for Gibbs."_

"He's here," Jenny said. She hit the speaker button and put the phone down.

"Did you get anything DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"_Took her a while. But-"_

"Did you get anything?" Gibbs asked, earning himself a glare from Jenny.

"_All she told me was that she was sitting on a couch with Chaim, reading. Jamal came home, Chaim ran to greet him in the hallway. Ziva went to the kitchen and then went to go into the hallway. Then the bomb went off," _Tony explained.

"Where was Jamal getting home from?" Jenny asked.

"_Ziva said it was a business trip."_

"Alright. Thanks, Tony," Jenny said, hanging up. "Very nice, Jethro."

"Jen, I can't help-"

"Yeah, I know. Just try."

"McGee, find something on Jamal Kilhaad," Gibbs instructed. McGee began typing on his keyboard.

The beeping noise startled them all. "What did you do, McGee?"

Abby looked over McGee's shoulder. "Oh. Clearance issues. Director, can you get through?"

Jenny looked at the screen. "Even I don't have clearance that high. Where is this file from?"

"Mossad."

"I'll go make a call," Jenny said, walking back to her office.

* * *

"So who else is on the team?" Ziva asked. "At NCIS, I mean."

"Uh…well you've met Gibbs and Abby. Did you meet Timothy McGee?" Tony replied.

"No, but Abby mentioned him a bit."

"Okay, well, McGee is the junior agent on the team. I call him 'Probie'."

_Tony and Ziva were walking behind a man in the office. "Can you see how people might begin to think there was a pattern of secret behaviour emerging here Probie?" Tony asked._

"You remember something?" Tony asked.

"Probie…walking behind him…in the office…you were asking him about secretive behaviour."

Tony was having issues remembering this himself. "Probably. He didn't tell us he was writing a book. He's a novelist," Tony explained.

"He wrote a book? Why would he keep it a secret?"

"Uh…" Tony wasn't sure she'd understand. "He based the characters on us and the other people in the team. I was Special Agent Tommy, you were Mossad Officer Lisa, Gibbs became Tibbs, stuff like that."

"That's nothing to be really ashamed of," Ziva said.

"It's more of what he made the characters do than who they are," Tony said. Ziva frowned

"What?"

"Okay, he made out that Tommy and Lisa liked each other," he said quickly, widening his eyes slightly to emphasise his point.

"Alright…"

"Moving on," Tony said, wanting to change the subject. He didn't want Ziva asking where McGee had gotten his idea for the Tommy/Lisa relationship.

"Can I ask you something?" Ziva said tentatively.

"Sure."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Ziva was curious. Here was this cute, funny, friendly guy who seemed to have nothing better to do than sit here with her.

"No," he answered. "No, I don't." _But I would like to have you in that position,_ he thought to himself.

Ziva smiled. "Alright."

* * *

An hour had passed before Jenny returned to the squadroom. "I talked to Ziva's father."

"Director David? What did he say?" McGee asked.

"Jamal Kilhaad had been away from his family for three weeks. He was returning from a one-time mission for Mossad."

"Okay, so he was a temporary officer."

"That's not all."

Gibbs could see Jenny was tense. "What else?"

Jenny took a deep breath. "Jamal was under investigation by Mossad because they had Intel that he was manufacturing home-made bombs and selling them."

"So he could have been the one who set off the bomb that killed Chaim and himself? The one that nearly killed Ziva?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Gibbs said.

* * *

A/N Please review!!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N The much awaited new chapter!! (Well, maybe not, but whatever. I'm happy today.)

DISCLAIMER: The usual. I own nothing. Except my computer. And my DVDs. And two very annoyed cats.

* * *

Chapter 7

Two days had passed. Ziva was ready to go home.

"Are you sure you're ready? You can stay longer if you don't feel 100-"

"Abby, really, I feel fine," Ziva said. In the short amount of time that she'd spent with Abby, she'd learned that she had rambling tendencies. "Where's Jenny? She said she would be here." Ziva had now 'met' everyone on the team.

"Jenny wanted to be here to help, but she was called into a last minute meeting," McGee lied. "She said she'd come see you at home when she could."

Jenny was actually with Gibbs in MTAC, trying to get more information about Jamal. Had he killed himself and his son with the intention of killing his wife as well?

"Alright, here we go," Tony said. Carefully he pulled Ziva up and helped her get into the wheelchair. "This is only until we get to the doors," he told her, noticing her very unimpressed expression.

"Good," she said. Her hand brushed his as he let her go.

She blushed.

"Let's go," Tony said, wheeling Ziva out of the room after Abby and McGee.

* * *

"Director Shepard, we can't release any more information to you-"

"We are opening an investigation into the deaths of Jamal and Chaim Kilhaad. We need that information." Jenny was arguing with Uri David over a satellite feed in MTAC.

"It isn't in your jurisdic-"

"It is in our jurisdiction. Ziva is an attachment to NCIS."

"She is a Mossad officer."

"Ziva hasn't done any official work for Mossad in two years," Gibbs interrupted from where he sat behind Jenny.

Uri groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Ziva doesn't know that Jamal was working for Mossad just before he died. I wanted to spare her the pain until we knew for sure what he had been doing."

"Did you find out anything about him?"

"No."

Jenny sighed. "We need this Intel for our investigation. This is your daughter we are talking about," she reminded him as he began to speak.

"I am well aware of that, Director."

"Then let us sort this out."

Uri leant back in his chair, defeated. "I'll have everything sent to you as soon as I can."

The feed was terminated.

Jenny turned to face Gibbs. "You really think Jamal killed himself and Chaim?"

Gibbs stood up. "No idea."

Jenny looked at her watch. "Ziva will be home by now. Are you going to go see her?"

Gibbs shook his head. "McGee and Abby will be back soon. We're working on the case."

"And Tony?"

"Helping Ziva settle back in."

"Alright."

Gibbs left the room.

* * *

"Seriously, Tony, this is really unnecessary," Ziva laughed. Once a rather violent tussle with the front door, Tony had gotten them inside and forced Ziva to lie down on the couch. He had then raided her entire house, bringing items that he thought she might need to her.

"Okay, so you have your books, magazines, laptop, phone and the remote for the stereo. Extra blankets are on the floor behind you. I didn't know if you were hungry so I just made anything I could find," he said, bring a tray covered in food to her.

"Are you always this over-the-top?" Ziva asked, smiling as he put the tray down.

"Oh yes," he said.

Ziva laughed more. "Fair enough."

"People from the team will be dropping in all the time. I'll tell them where the key is so you don't have to get up all the time-"

"Tony, I can walk. Just because you insisted on carrying me in from the car doesn't mean I wasn't capable of doing in myself."

Tony poked his tongue out. "Anyway, I should get back to the office. Call if you need anything, alright?"

"Thank you, Tony," Ziva said, snuggling down further under her blanket.

Tony took one last look at Ziva before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Three hours later, Ziva was bored. She'd read all her magazines, eaten some food, played Tetris on her phone until her fingers hurt and was now listening to the radio.

She wanted to remember. All these people, Tony, Abby, McGee, they were fantastic. She wanted to remember everything she had done with them. From what they had told her, they were all friends and mocked each other frequently.

She could remember everything with Jamal and Chaim. Everything with amazing detail. Her wedding day, Chaim's first word ('Ima!'), and Jamal leaving on 'business'.

Ziva wasn't stupid; she could tell the team was keeping something from her. She could see it in their eyes. While she understood they were probably trying to protect her, she didn't want to be treated like a baby.

Getting up slowly, she made her way to the bathroom and examined herself in the mirror.

_She was in a bathroom with orange walls. Voices were going through her head. _

"_Which hospital? Portsmouth? You didn't ask? Oh, Ziva. I'm not implying that you don't care." It was Ducky._

"_The way you're acting, you might have just, I don't know, forgotten to tell us. What if those were Gibbs' guts smooshed all over that room?_" _That was Abby. She sounded so angry and upset._

Ziva stared at her reflection. What kind of person was she that people seemed to think she didn't care?

She ran a finger over her stitches. What kind of person was she?

She made her way to the front door and walked out.

* * *

A/N Where is she going??

Please review!! Those who review will be hugged in my mind...


	8. Chapter 8

A/N For Elle. Mostly because I torture her with Tony + Jeanne icons. Haha.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8

Tony was in his kitchen. As soon as he got back to the office, Gibbs had sent him home.

He was cooking pasta, determinedly not looking at the phone in anticipation of it ringing. Ziva was a big girl, she could take care of herself.

The doorbell rang. "Just a sec!" he called. He turned off the hotplate and opened the door.

"We need to talk," Ziva said as she walked in.

* * *

"Jamal's mission was just general surveillance. Why was it so classified?" Jenny asked. Once again, she was in MTAC with Gibbs talking to Uri.

"The people he was watching were the ones he was suspected of working with," Uri explained. "We wanted to see if he would betray them or us."

"And who did he-"

"Neither. That's why the mission was inconclusive. He fed us worthless information but he didn't even attempt to help the others."

"What happened after the mission?"

"We sent him home. Thanked him for being a temporary officer."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

The feed was terminated.

"So we really have nothing," Jenny said, turning to face Gibbs.

"We need to know who Jamal was watching. Could get us something," he said.

"This is getting more complicated by the hour."

"You just focus on running the agency. I'll find the answers."

Jenny smiled. "Right."

* * *

"What's going on?" Tony asked, bewildered.

Ziva turned around to face him. "What kind of person was I?"

"What?"

"Before the bomb. What was I like? And don't lie to protect me. I'm not a baby."

Tony could see she was really agitated. "Sit down, Ziva."

They sat.

"Ziva-"

"Just tell me, Tony. You have been very nice and I don't want to change my opinion of you now."

Tony sighed. "Alright, the truth…you were sarcastic. Kind of. Highly competitive. Hated making mistakes."

"What about towards other people?"

"Well…you didn't talk much about your family. Or anything to do with your personal life. If you ever did you were usually being sarcastic."

"Did I care about people?"

"Of course you did…why are you asking this?" Tony asked curiously. _Hopefully you cared for me_, he thought to himself.

"I was just…thinking about things. I remembered something."

"See? This is good. You're remembering things. You'll be fine," he said.

Ziva still seemed uncertain.

"You wanna stay for dinner?" Tony asked in a bid to distract her from herself.

Ziva looked at him. "Sure."

* * *

"All four people that Jamal was watching are dead. All killed in separate bomb attacks," McGee said as Gibbs walked into the squadroom, followed closely by Abby.

Gibbs didn't respond.

"Is he okay?" McGee asked Abby quietly.

"He just interrogated the two guys Tony and Ziva were going to bust. They set up the bomb attack at the warehouse," Abby whispered back. "They're being charged now."

"Did you find anything else McGee?" Gibbs asked. While he was proud that the two Marines who had caused this whole situation with Ziva were going to Leavenworth for a very long time, he still wanted to get this whole thing over with.

"Actually, I was going through these," McGee said, holding up photocopies of the letters that Jamal had sent to Ziva.

Gibbs picked one up and read it.

"There isn't much information in them, really, but the endings all say something about loving Chaim and Ziva very much and that he is happy he will see them soon," McGee said.

"Your point, McGee?"

"Well, if he was planning to kill his family and himself, wouldn't he have been colder towards them?"

"Suicide bombers generally aren't right in the head, McGee. You never know what they'll do."

"Gibbs, would Mossad still have the evidence from the bomb blast in storage or something?" Abby piped up.

"Why?"

"I just want to go through it…I need to do something to help," she explained.

"I'll get Jenny to call Mossad again and find out," Gibbs replied. Abby smiled weakly and returned to her lab.

"McGee, go home," Gibbs said. "It's late. We'll work on this more tomorrow."

"You sure Boss? Because I can-"

"McGee."

"Goodnight Boss."

Once again, the squadroom was silent and pretty much empty. Gibbs began shuffling through his papers.

"Jethro," came a voice. Gibbs looked up to see Jenny on the catwalk.

"Yeah?"

"Have you been home at all in the past few days?"

Gibbs didn't answer. Jenny made her way down to him.

"This probably sounds wrong coming from a Director, but you should relax a bit on this case. It's fairly slow moving," she said, standing in front of him.

"Huh," Gibbs said.

Jenny pressed her hands on the desk. "Go home, Jethro. Seriously. Take your own advice and get some sleep."

Gibbs smiled slightly, got up, and walked to the elevator. Jenny watched from the window to make sure he actually left.

* * *

"How did you get here?" Tony asked Ziva over a bowl of steaming spaghetti.

"Taxi. I am not allowed to drive, remember?"

"Even when you are allowed to drive it's not safe," Tony muttered.

_Ziva tried to push Tony away from the car door._

"_I could say it's because I'm the Senior Field Agent but mostly because I wanna live," Tony said._

"You wouldn't let me drive," Ziva mumbled.

"Huh?"

"You wouldn't let me drive," Ziva said loudly.

"That's happened plenty of times," Tony laughed. Ziva, seeing his reaction, laughed as well.

"This tastes good," she said, poking at her food.

"You like it?"

"I know what I do and don't like. I just can't remember…things. Events, occasions, things that have happened," Ziva explained.

Tony continued to eat. It was odd, having her at his apartment for dinner. While he had thought about it often, he never actually thought it would happen.

As usual, Ziva was enjoying being with Tony. She couldn't remember if she liked him before now, but now she certainly did.

"You alright?" Tony asked. "You're staring at me."

Ziva was spared answering by the phone ringing. Tony got up to get it.

"DiNozzo."

"_Where the hell is Ziva? She's not at her house."_

"Oh, hi Boss," Tony said, smiling at Ziva. "She's here with me."

"I got bored!" Ziva yelled.

Gibbs snorted slightly. _"Rule 12, Tony. Rule 12."_

"Everything is fine, Boss," Tony said, barely managing to conceal his amusement as Gibbs hung up.

* * *

A/N Please review!!

I've finished writing chapter 15. -Happy-

But I won't be posting any quicker...I keep changing things...sorry!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N I am so amazingly happy/estactic/hyper. Have been since last night. I found a promo video for season 6!!

AIIII!!

Very exciting!!...I've memorised the whole thing. Is that bad?

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9

Three days passed. Tony was barely even in the office; he was always with Ziva, trying to jog her memory.

Abby had been sent all the evidence that was still usable from the Kilhaad bombing and was processing it at thoroughly as she could. McGee and Gibbs were working the rest of the case, while Jenny dropped in as often as she could.

By now, Ziva had many more memories, mostly snippets of conversations, but she was getting more and more confident every day.

Today was the day she would go back to NCIS, but only as a visitor. Jenny had forced her to take sick leave until she was fully healed.

"Now, Ziva, this is an elevator. It goes up and down and will take us to the squadroom," Tony said mockingly. Ziva was now used to it, so she punched him in the arm.

"You are so stupid."

The elevator doors opened.

"ZIVA!"

Ziva was engulfed by a mass of Abby. "Hi, Abby."

"How are you? How do you feel? Do you remember anything else? Did your stitches come out okay? How long are you-"

"Abby. Calm. Breathe in, breathe out," Tony said slowly, demonstrating with his hands. Abby grinned and went back down to forensics.

They walked over to the squadroom. Ziva stood near her desk for a moment.

_Gibbs walked past Tony. SLAP._

_Tony turned to McGee. SLAP._

_Gibbs stood between Ziva and Tony. SLAP._

_Gibbs walked up to Tony and stroked the back of his head. "Atta boy."_

Ziva sniggered. "You people headslap each other often."

"Works wonders for behavioral issues," Gibbs said, standing up from behind his desk. "How you feeling?"

"Stitches got taken out last night. I feel great," Ziva replied. Now the only visible signs of trauma were small lacerations on her face and neck and a bandage on her right arm.

She looked at the plasma to see a picture of her house in Israel just after the explosion.

"_Jamal! Chaim!" she screamed, searching frantically around her for any sign of them._

"McGee, get that off the screen," Gibbs said quickly. McGee did.

"You alright?" Tony said quietly to Ziva.

She nodded.

The phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

The team patiently waited as Gibbs listened to the phone.

"Abby's got something," Gibbs announced a moment later. "Ziva, stay here-"

"It's about my family, isn't it," Ziva said, more like a statement than a question.

"Yes," Gibbs said, not wanting to make things more complicated by lying even more to her.

"I can take it. Really. I'm okay with everything now. It's like I know that seven years has passed, so I'm getting over it, I just can't remember it," Ziva explained.

Gibbs looked at her for a moment. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

"Ok, so I was going through- oh. Hi Ziva," Abby said when she noticed she was there. Abby looked at Gibbs.

"It's alright. Continue, Abs," Gibbs said.

"Um…ok," Abby said, not sure how to continue. "I've been over the evidence from the bombing. The source of explosion came from just inside the front door."

"That's where Jamal was. He had just gotten home," Ziva said. Tony kept watching her carefully, waiting for her to realize what they were investigating.

"Some bomb fragments were found in the…" Abby couldn't say 'human remains', but the others knew what she was talking about. "The bomb was very similar to some other local bombings."

"Does this actually tell us anything?" Ziva asked, looking pointedly at Gibbs.

"We're trying to figure out who made the bomb," Abby supplied.

"Bomb fragments from a seven year old case can tell you who made the bomb?" Ziva asked. She frowned. "What aren't you telling me? What do you know?"'

"Ziva, go back to the squadroom," Gibbs instructed. She might be over the fact that it was her husband and son they were talking about, but she wouldn't get over her husband being the bomber.

"Gibbs-"

"Go."

Ziva looked at them all for a moment and left in a huff.  
As soon as the elevator doors had closed Abby continued.

"Everything points to Jamal being the bomber. He was in the exact point of detonation, the bomb was almost identical to the other bomb which he has suspected of making…everything."

"Boss, we have to tell Ziva," McGee said.

"I know, McGee."

"Someone who she trusts should do it…" Abby said.

"I think she'd appreciate that," McGee added.

"Yeah," Gibbs finished.

They all looked at Tony.

"Me? Why me?" he exclaimed, outraged.

"She's been with you pretty much constantly since the explosion. You've helped her more than anyone else," McGee said. He looked away quickly as Tony glared at him.

Tony turned his attention to Gibbs, hoping for some sort of support. "Tim's right, DiNozzo. Better you than him."

Abby sniggered.

"Alright, fine. But I'm not guaranteeing anything," Tony said. He headed to the elevator.

* * *

Tony entered the squadroom to find paper all over the floor. "What the-" He stopped suddenly as a stapler flew past his head.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Ziva yelled at him, having a full-on meltdown. She picked up a pen holder and considered throwing it.

"Ziva, calm down. What's going on?" Tony said desperately.

"You and everyone else think that Jamal set the bomb off!" she said angrily, dropping the pen holder and searching for something else to rearm with.

"How-"

"Papers on everyone's desks. I put two and two together and this is what I have come up with. Am I right?" she demanded, stopping her search and looking directly at him.

"Ziva-"

"Am I right?"

Tony sighed. _At least now I won't be the one to break the news to her,_ he thought miserably. "Yes."

He got ready to dodge large amount of office equipment but was surprised when Ziva let her arms fall limply to her sides and nearly fall to the ground.

Tony caught her. "You alright?" _Stupid question, DiNozzo._

Ziva didn't answer, but instead started to cry into his shoulder.

* * *

A/N Please review!!

I can't seem to write the whole 'Ziva being over her family' thing properly. I tried. Whatever.

Yay for reviews!!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N I keep updating faster than usual...be proud, people!

This chapter is for Elle, because a) I keep threatening her with Tony/Jeanne icons, and b) because this is a bribe for her not to kill one of my fave characters from her fic (read 'Deteriotion of the Fight or Flight Response' if you have no idea what I'm talking about. If you haven't read it, it's great.)

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 10

Gibbs and McGee walked into the squadroom half an hour after Tony had left the lab. They wanted to be sure that they didn't walk into the middle of an argument.

Instead of finding the scene they had pictured, they walked in to find Tony sitting awkwardly on the floor, with a now silent Ziva leaning against him.

Tony looked up as Gibbs cleared his throat. He nodded.

"Ziva," Gibbs said quietly. Ziva looked at him through red eyes.

"What?"

"You wanna go home?"

Ziva shook her head. "No."

Gibbs watched her for a moment, then sat down at his desk.

"What evidence do you have against Jamal?" Ziva asked after Tony helped her to her desk. "Truthfully."

Gibbs explained everything to her, except for the part about Jamal working for Mossad.

"And there's no evidence to the contrary?" she asked.

"Not that we've found," Gibbs said.

Ziva fiddled with papers on her desk.

Gibbs leant against the front of her desk. "Ziva, we can't have you here working the case with us."

"Why not?" Gibbs looked away. "There's something you aren't telling me, isn't there."

"Yes," Gibbs said.

"What-"

"I can't tell you that yet, Ziva."

Ziva frowned at him. "Can I go visit Abby then?"

Gibbs thought about it for a moment. "Sure."

Tony reached his hand out to help Ziva up from her chair, but she slapped it away. "I'm not a child," she said as she walked past.

Tony shrank back to his desk.

* * *

Ziva walked silently into the lab. Abby was sitting on a chair at the desk, talking to herself, and didn't even notice Ziva was there.

"Why didn't she tell us about her family? Maybe she didn't trust us enough…which is stupid because we all trust each other with our lives. But Chaim is the cutest kid ever! Maybe she just didn't want to talk about it because she might cry and that would be a sign of weakness or something-"

"No,' Ziva said.

Abby jumped and turned around. "Ziva! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," Ziva said. Abby could tell she was annoyed, and she could guess why.

Ziva walked over to the table and looked at the evidence that was spread out. She recognized some of it from her house in Israel. A broken photo frame, charred remains of furniture, and some bits and pieces from the lounge room.

She noticed another box that hadn't been unpacked yet. She pulled of the lid and looked at the contents.

It was full of burnt baby toys, books and clothes.

"_Oh my God," Ziva said under her breath as she say the debris that was once her home. She had to find her family._

"_Chaim! If you can hear Mummy say something!" she called desperately._

_She couldn't see either of them. "Jamal?"_

_She looked down at her shirt. Blood was all over it._

_She could feel herself going into shock. She sat down and tried to calm down._

"_Ziva!" Someone was calling to her. Ziva felt a pair of hands on her shoulders._

"_Jamal?"_

"_No, it's…" Ziva didn't hear the rest. She fainted._

Abby jumped of her seat and rushed over to Ziva. "Ziva? Ziva?!" she exclaimed. She reached for the phone and dialed.

"_Yeah, Gibbs."_

"Gibbs! Ziva just came down to see me and she was looking through the evidence and then she looked kind of distant and then she passed out on the floor and she's not moving…"

* * *

"Didn't think we'd be back here this soon," Jenny said as she passed Gibbs a cup of coffee.

He cringed, but hospital coffee was better than nothing. "Thanks."

Jenny jerked her head towards Tony. "Has he said anything?"

"Not since we got here. He just keeps staring out the window," Gibbs said.

A doctor walked towards them. He knew they were there for Ziva; he had seen them the first time Ziva was in hospital.

"It just looks like she had a panic attack of some sort and fainted. Nothing overly major, but she needs to relax more," he said. "Keep her stress levels to a minimum, and she'll be fine."

"Thank you, Doctor," Jenny said.

A second later Tony was next to them. "What did he say?"

"Ziva should be fine," Jenny said. Gibbs wasn't big on the explaining-the-situation thing. "We have to keep her stress levels down."

"Bringing her to NCIS probably wasn't a good idea," Tony said, looking towards her room.

Jenny nudged him. "Go see her."

"But-"

"We know you want to. Don't pretend," Gibbs said forcefully. Tony walked away quickly.

Jenny looked at Gibbs curiously. "Was that a trace of accepting that two members of your team like each other?" she smiled.

Gibbs looked down at his cup. "This coffee really is shocking."

* * *

A/N Please review!! The faster I get this finished the faster I'll be posting my new fic!! (read my profile if you have no idea what I'm talking about).

Hm...I keep talking about things that people don't have a clue about. Gotta stop doing that.

Oh yes. THe whole panic attack thing. I'm not exactly sure how a panic attack works, having never had one myself, so really I have no idea. Go with it.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Hello, my little readers (I have no idea where that came from.)

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 11

Ziva was awake and staring at the ceiling.

"Hi," Tony said as he sat down next to the bed. "How you feeling?"

"Fine."

Tony watched her face. "What you thinking about?"

"I'm confused."

"About?"

Ziva took a deep breath. "How I feel."

"Okay…" Tony was surprised. Ziva never talked about how she felt.

Then again, this wasn't the Ziva he was used to.

"I miss my husband and son. I do. But I feel like I'm over their deaths."

"It has been about seven years. It's only natural to feel that way," Tony said.

"I just…I don't know how to say it without sounding weird," Ziva said.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter what you sound like. I sound like an idiot all the time."

Ziva smiled for a second, but then returned to being confused. "Okay…this whole situation is confusing. I feel like I'm over them. But then I feel like I shouldn't be because they are dead, and because I know that the team is keeping something from me."

"I can't tell you what it is without Gibbs' permission, Ziva. He'd headslap me into oblivion. Now, back to the other stuff," he said, reaching down into his bag. "I snuck this in. I'm not sure if you're allowed eat but you can at least look at it." He held up a chocolate bar.

_Ziva leant back against the vending machine. "Do you ever think about soulmates?" she asked Tony._

_Tony continued chewing his food. "They were on Decker, right? Big hit, mid-seventies, sort of a disco thing. Sing a few bars, I'll get it."_

"_You will never get it," Ziva said, walking off._

"You remember something?" Tony asked. He could now recognize the 'having a flashback' face.

"Yes."

"Well? What was it?"

"I was asking you about soulmates."

Tony leant back on his chair. _Ah yes, the time I made a fool of myself avoiding the question,_ he thought. "Yes, you did ask me about it."

"Why?"

Tony tried to think back. "Something to do with a case we were working on. A woman that was involved talked about soulmates."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"And then I asked you about it? Sorry," she added, seeing his confused 'don't ask me any more' look. "I'm just trying to understand."

"It's alright," Tony said. "Perfectly understandable."

* * *

"Boss!" McGee exclaimed as Gibbs and Jenny walked into the squadroom. They had left Tony with Ziva. "I think I got something!"

"You think?" Gibbs said. Jenny punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"I've been reading the files about the four people Jamal was suspected of watching."

"They're all dead," Gibbs said as the files appeared on the plasma.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think it would hurt to look," McGee said. "Anyway, one in particular stood out. Yusuf Nachash. Practically his whole family was investigated on terrorism charges by Mossad a few years before the Kilhaad bombing."

"And?"

"His brother, Kasam, was imprisoned, but nothing else was found. Investigation ended, nothing else happened."

"And why is this important? Was the brother released just before the Kilhaad bombing or something?" Gibbs said impatiently.

"Well, no, but Yusuf's mother, Mira, went off the grid for a while after Kasam was arrested. She returned three weeks before Ziva's place was blown up."

"She doesn't have motive. How could it be her?" Jenny said. Gibbs looked at her. "I'm just making sure we think of everything."

"I have a theory!" Abby announced as she walked into the squadroom.

"You get anything from the evidence?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm pretty sure that Jamal was carrying the bomb," Abby said quietly, joining the group. "But only because of what was left of his body. I also determined that the bomb was inside something, like a box or briefcase."

"Makes sense. Ziva said she thought Jamal was on a business trip, so it makes sense that he would carry a briefcase to sell the act," McGee said.

"So your theory?" Gibbs said.

"Okay, the Nachash family is investigated for terrorism, which would have been fairly common. Anyway, after Kasam was imprisoned, Mira would have wanted to know who gave the evidence against her son. She would have found out it was Mossad and wanted to seek revenge on them. Anyway, then years later, Jamal is sent to investigate Mira's other son, Yusuf. Mira returned from wherever she went just as Jamal's mission was starting."

Jenny realized where Abby was going. "Mira might have noticed that Jamal was watching Yusuf. Seeing as Jamal had no Mossad training, he probably wouldn't have been very good at disguising himself."

"Exactly. So Mira finds out that Jamal is watching Yusuf, and can't stand the idea of her only other son being imprisoned as well," Abby explained. "Luckily, Jamal couldn't find anything, so the investigation ended."

"Is this theory going to end soon?" Gibbs said.

Jenny shushed him. "But Mira wouldn't let it go. She would have guessed that Mossad was behind this second investigation, which gave her more of a reason to hate them."

"She would have gone after Mossad," Gibbs said, cottoning on.

"Yeah. So she went after Jamal, knowing that he was Mossad."

"Doesn't explain how Jamal had the bomb," Gibbs said, as usual being the one to find a fault in the plan.

"Mira could have planted it."

"Wow," McGee said. Everyone turned to look at him. "It's complicated," he said lamely.

"McGee, look more into Mira Nachash," Gibbs ordered as he and Jenny headed up to MTAC to talk to Uri again.

* * *

Once again, Ziva was bored with just lying there. She was waiting for Tony to return from getting his lunch.

She poked her jelly, disgusted that it barely even moved. _Yuck_, she thought.

"I'm baaaack!" Tony's voice drifted in from the corridor.

Ziva laughed. "Finally."

"You haven't touched your food," he observed, trying to keep his burger hidden.

"Not true. I did touch it. That's why I'm not eating it," Ziva explained, poking the jelly again.

Tony grimaced. "Yuck."

"Exactly."

"I got a call from Gibbs while I was out," Tony said, unwrapping his food as discreetly as possible. He didn't want to rub it in that Ziva was stuck with hospital food while he had takeaway.

"What did he say?"

"They have a new theory. They think the bomb might have been planted," he explained, putting his food down on the table.

"Good."

"Good?"

"It means Jamal didn't do it," Ziva said. It was almost as if she was talking about some other case, not one involving her husband.

_Ex-husband,_ she thought to herself. _He died seven years ago_.

"Ziva? You alright?" Tony said. She was staring at the window. He turned to look at what she was staring at.

Nothing was there.

"Ziva?" he said, turning back around to face her.

She was eating his burger.

"You sneaky little spy," he said. He reached over to grab it, but she held it out of his reach.

"You looked away. It's mine now," she giggled.

"This means war," he said. He jumped up and leant right over her, trying to reach his precious burger. His chest was right near her face.

"Ahem," a voice came from the doorway. Tony and Ziva turned to see who it was.

"This isn't keeping your stress levels down, Ziva," the doctor said as he walked away.

_Oh, believe me, _Ziva thought as Tony got off of her. _This is anything but stressful._

* * *

A/N Please review!!

Just for the record, the plot of this story kinda get complicated. It gets a bit more clarified later on, but if you're confused, join the club. We'll get t-shirts.

I have the next few chapters written, so I'll be updating as normal, but after that things might slow down again. I know I've said this before, but I really need to spend more time on homework than writing (majorly freaked out two days ago and ended up spending a whole day catching up on work).

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story!!

-PJ


	12. Chapter 12

A/N Happy Father's Day to all the Daddy's out there!! (In Australia anyway...)

For Elle, because we're both nutty people.

I'm so stuck on this story. Maybe I should go on a spirtual retreat or something...which for me would be staring at the NCIS DVDs for hours.

Hey. It's a form a therapy. Right? RIGHT?

* * *

Chapter 12

"What do you mean, you thought she was a suspect?" Gibbs burst out angrily.

"You believed Mira Nachash might have done it?" Jenny said, holding onto her composure slightly better than Gibbs was.

"We could never come up with anything to support our belief, so we-"

"Discontinued all investigations," Gibbs finished. "Does Mossad ever have any successful missions?"

"Of course we-"

"He was being sarcastic, Director David," Jenny said, looking sideways at Gibbs.

Uri frowned. "How is my daughter?"

"Ziva is in hospital again. Panic attack," Gibbs said.

Uri looked uneasy. "She will be alright?"

"Should be."

"Good."

"So you have nothing on Mira?" Gibbs said.

Uri shook his head. "Nothing. We don't even know where she went after Kasam was arrested. All we know is that she returned just before Jamal's mission and that she lived down the street from Ziva and Jamal."

Gibbs did a double take. "What?"

"She returned-"

"Not that. She lived near Ziva and her family?"

"Yes," Uri said, shuffling through his papers until he found the one he wanted. "Four houses down."

"And you failed to mention this before?" Jenny said.

"I'm sorry, Director Shepard," Uri said, running a hand over his face. "This is just…stressful."

"I understand. We'll be in contact soon," Jenny said.

The feed was terminated.

"Mira is looking more and more like a suspect," Jenny said, turning to face Gibbs.

"Now all we have to do is find her," he replied.

* * *

"I cannot wait to get out of here," Ziva said. For hours she and Tony had been sitting there.

"I agree. This is nowhere near as fun as I thought I would be," Tony replied. He was lying on the couch, throwing his badge in the air and catching it. "Anything you are particularly interested in?"

"_I take it you're not interested in the premium channels," Tony said as Ziva led him by the hand._

"_There's only one thing I'm interested in right now," she replied._

_After a moment of gazing at each other, they kissed._

Ziva stared at Tony, her eyes wide.

"Okay, that's probably the scariest you've looked for a while," Tony said uneasily. "Why are you-"

"We…we were _together_?" she said.

"What?" Tony was bewildered.

"You said something about television channels and then I said something about being interested in one thing and then…"

"Aha!" Tony exclaimed, catching on. Of course he knew what she was talking about. He remembered that moment very clearly. _Stop thinking about it, DiNozzo,_ he thought to himself. _Unprofessional. Very unprofessional._ "We were undercover, posing as French assassins. We had to be convincing," he exclaimed, failing to conceal his glee.

"Oh," Ziva said. She almost felt disappointed. Why? "That makes sense."

Tony resumed throwing his badge in the air.

Ziva screwed up her face trying to remember. Had she ever been involved with Tony?

_Ziva looked down at her phone. "Straight to voicemail. Just like always when he's with her."_

"_Tony?" Ducky said._

_Ziva was surprised. "What?"_

"_Nothing," Ducky said quickly._

_Ziva caught him. "Ugh, no, no, no, that look was definitely something."_

"_Well, why do you monitor Tony?"_

_Ziva scrunched up her nose. "I don't monitor Tony."_

"_Oh, yes, you do my dear, like a mother with her toddler," Ducky reasoned._

"_Ah. That's a good description," Ziva said sarcastically._

"_Or a woman with a wayward lover," Ducky finished. _

Ziva watched Tony play with his badge. So apparently she had liked him, but not been involved with him. But she'd more than liked him as a friend. She was jealous of his girlfriend. Obviously that was who Tony was with. And Ducky knew it. Did that mean everyone else knew it as well?

The main question was, did she like him now?

* * *

"Thank you. We'll contact you when she's here," Jenny said, hanging up the phone. She and Gibbs were in her office.

"What's happening?" Gibbs said from where he sat on the couch.

"Director David has found Mira Nachash. She'll be on the first flight to Washington…"

"Good."

"…voluntarily."

"What?" Gibbs said, standing up.

"Apparently when Mossad found and approached her she was very cooperative. She volunteered to come to America."

"Generally terrorists don't do anything voluntarily for the government," Gibbs said.

"There are always exceptions."

"I know that."

"So now we wait," Jenny said, leaning back on her chair.

Gibbs sighed. "So now we wait."

* * *

A/N Please review!!

I know this is kind of a short chapter. I think. I'm not sure.

I gotta start laying off the caffiene. People are gonna think I'm nuts.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N --giggle-- coffee.

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 13

"Soooo bored," Tony complained.

"Stop complaining. At least you can walk around," Ziva replied.

"You should be able to. You should be fine," Tony said, getting off of the couch. "Doctor!"

"Shhh!!" Ziva hissed, but she was laughing.

A doctor came in. "You bellowed?" For the past few hours Tony had been quoting movies at the top of his lungs, so the hospital staff were used to the noise.

"In your professional opinion, would it be alright if Ziva was to accompany me into the cafeteria?" Tony said, making Ziva laugh even harder. He enjoyed being the one who made her happy.

The doctor smiled slightly. "No over-exertion, but yes. There's also a garden you can go to, two corridors over, you'll see the door," he said. He turned around and walked away.

Tony leapt off the couch. "Come on."

"Come on what?" Ziva said, sitting up slightly. "While I appreciate that we can go to the cafeteria and to the garden it's hardly very exciting."

Tony leant over and picked up his bag. "I knew I'd be here for a while, so I brought this with me." He passed her the bag. "Get ready."

* * *

"What're you doing?" Jenny said as she walked over to where Gibbs sat at her desk.

"Nothing," he replied.

Jenny leant over and read his computer screen. "Reviewing old case files? You must be bored."

Gibbs just looked at her.

"Alright, you're not bored," Jenny said, smiling slightly. "Drowsy, uninterested, but not bored."

"Nice, Jen, nice," Gibbs said, chuckling lightly.

The phone rang.

Gibbs hit the speaker button. "Yeah?"

"Politeness never was your strong point, was it?" Jenny hissed quietly.

"_FBI Agent Langer is here with a guest to see you,"_ Cynthia said.

Jenny raised her eyebrows at Gibbs, then turned back to the phone. "Send them in."

Seconds later Brent Langer and Mira Nachash walked in.

Gibbs and Brent greeted each other politely, saving their sarcastic comments for later.

"Why is the FBI involved in this?" Jenny asked. Mira looked very content for someone who was under investigation for terrorism.

"Personally, I have no idea. I was just assigned to escort Mrs Nachash here," Brent said.

Gibbs gave him the 'you're going to tell me later, right?' look. Brent nodded in reply.

"Alright. Let's go to the conference room," Jenny said.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Gibbs said as he pulled Brent back. Jenny continued walked with Mira into the conference room.

"FBI likes being involved in acts of terrorism."

"This has nothing to do with FBI territory. The attack we are investigating took place seven years ago in Israel," Gibbs informed him.

Brent shrugged. "I was just told that NCIS had a witness coming in from overseas and needed an escort to Headquarters. I was the lucky one who scored the job."

Gibbs just stared at him.

"What?" Brent said.

"What aren't you telling me, Langer?"

"Alright, I give up. You're as impossible as ever," Brent said dejectedly. "FBI keeps in contact with foreign countries and their terrorist investigations. We know about the whole Nachash family case. When we found out Mira was being called here, we decided to get involved."

"We?"

"Them, others, people of high command than me. I'm not involved with their decisions," Brent said quickly.

Gibbs headslapped him. "See, you should have stayed at NCIS." He began walking into the conference room.

"Well, I would have stayed if it wasn't for my boss. Big guy. Pain in the butt really."

Brent ran off quickly when he saw Gibbs' expression.

* * *

"I cannot believe we are doing this," Ziva said, picking up her menu.

"Well, it beats a hospital cafeteria," Tony replied, trying not to laugh at her.

Inside his bag Tony had packed a change of clothes, which Ziva was now wearing - jeans and a button up shirt, all rolled up slightly. Once she was changed, Tony had dragged her out of the hospital and they had ended up at a pizza place just down the street.

"What if the doctor-"

"Ziva, stop asking that. The doctor is going to search through the entire garden searching for you. We'll say we were there if anyone asks. Now, if you don't order something, I'll order for you," Tony said as she began to protest.

Minutes later they had both placed their orders and were both staring aimlessly out the window.

"So...this is fun," Tony said sarcastically.

"Oh yes," Ziva sighed. She cast a sideways look at Tony, who was already looking at her.

They both blushed.

"So you're feeling alright?" Tony asked in an attempt to clear the air of awkwardness.

"Yeah. Much better really. Can't wait to get out of that hospital," she replied, taking a sip of her water.

"Cool."

"Yeah."

Their food came. They continued to talk amicably until they were done.

"So this was a nice date," Ziva said.

Tony stared at her.

"Oh, no!" Ziva said, backtracking fast. "I just meant, this little outing seemed like date behaviour. I know it wasn't actually a date." _Smart, Ziva, smart. Why don't you just tell him you wished it was a date and be done with it?_

Tony laughed. "You're rambling." _Yes, DiNozzo, cover up what you really want to say._

Ziva poked him in the shoulder. "Come on, the sooner I get back to the hospital the sooner I can be discharged."

* * *

A/N Please review!

I love Brent. Even though his role in 'Tribes' (yep, he was a character!! Ziva liked his butt, Tony started to say something...Tiva moment, people) was so short, he was great.

I might rewrite this chapter soon. I keep writing pointless Tiva moments just for the hell of it. Not sure if they're worth keeping.

Also, keep up with the reviews. I'll only update when I have a minimum of 8 reviews. Mean, I know, but it's my incentive.

Yay! I have power!!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N I know I said I wouldn't publish this chapter until I got 8 reviews (I currently have 7) but I'm on a major high right now because I FOUND ANOTHER PROMO FOR SEASON 6!!

30 whole seconds of pure heaven...

It's on YouTube - /watch?vEvd6XR8zPrY

--jumping around--

Anyway...

Once again, if you get confused, let me know. I'm thinking I might have to rewrite this.

For Claire, because she Beta's everything (sure, she Beta's after it's published, but oh well. I appreciate it.)

And for Elle, mostly because I enjoy getting advanced material…lol.

* * *

Chapter 14

As soon as they returned to the hospital, Ziva quickly got back into bed.

Within minutes a doctor had come in to see them. "Well, Ziva, looks like we'll be able to discharge you tomorrow."

Ziva smiled. "Great. Because this place-"

"Thanks Doc," Tony finished. The doctor shook his head as he left.

Ziva whooped slightly. "I get to leave tomorrow!"

Tony laughed at her. "Yeah."

* * *

Gibbs took his place opposite Jenny at the table, with Mira sitting at the end.

"I'm Director Shepard," Jenny introduced herself. "And this is Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs thought about that for a moment. He only called Jenny 'Jenny' when he was being very serious about something, yet she introduced herself as that to everyone.

_Weird._ _Pointless to think about, also,_ Gibbs thought to himself.

"I come to this country from far away. What is happening?" Mira asked, her accent thick and her English not perfect.

"We understand that this may bring up some memories, but we need your help with an investigation that we are running," Jenny said, opening the file that was in front of her.

"Investigation?"

"We're investigating a bombing that took place in Israel seven years ago," Gibbs explained.

"There have been many bombs in my country," Mira said, twisting her hands.

"The one we're talking about is one that occurred just down the road from your house," Jenny said, pulling out photos of the burning Kilhaad residence.

"I remember," Mira said after she glanced at the pictures.

"Where were you at the time of the explosion?" Gibbs asked.

"My home. I hear the explosion, I went outside and went to help the family."

"You knew the family?"

"Not well, but yes."

"Can you tell us about them?" Jenny asked, just to make sure Mira understood exactly what they were talking about.

"Three people. Mother, father and son."

"Names?"

"Ziva, Jamal and Chaim Kilhaad. Chaim was the son," Mira clarified.

"Alright. Do you know of anyone who had a grudge against them?" Gibbs and Jenny had agreed earlier to pretend that Mira was not a suspect, just a witness.

"Not that I am aware of."

Gibbs glanced at Jenny for a second before speaking again. "Your family was investigated for terrorism charges?"

Mira stood up, fury burning in her eyes. "Are you suggesting I had something to do with the Kilhaad bomb?"

"We were-"

"I am leaving," Mira said, pulling on her coat.

Jenny stood up as well, but didn't argue. "I'll have an agent escort you out."

"Thank you."

Mira walked out first.

"That was interesting," Gibbs said quietly.

Jenny turned to look at him for a moment. "Yeah."

* * *

_The next day…_

"Alright, bag is packed," Tony groaned as he pulled the bag zipper shut. "I can't believe you have this much stuff."

"You can't complain. You brought it all here for me."

Tony just shook his head and slung the bag over his shoulder. "I'll take this out to the car and then I'll be back for you."

"Alright," Ziva said happily. She was excited to be going home.

Tony left the room, thinking about Ziva.

He walked smack bang into someone. "I'm sorry, I was-"

The person ran off.

"Okay…" Tony said to himself, confused. He quickly took the bag to the car and returned to the hospital room.

Ziva was waiting for him at the door. "What, no wheelchair?" she said sarcastically.

"Oh, I can get one for you if you want-"

"You do and I'll-"

"Alright, no threats necessary," Tony finished quickly. Ziva smirked and they left the hospital.

* * *

"So now what? She's under surveillance?" Gibbs asked. It had been several hours since Mira had left. Gibbs had brought dinner up to Jenny's office.

"Yep," Jenny said as clearly as she could through a mouthful of potato. She swallowed. "FBI wanted to help out-"

"You didn't let them take charge of the surveillance, did you?" Gibbs said in disbelief. "Soon it'll be their case and not ours."

"I assure you that I did not agree to let them assist. If anything, I don't think they'll want to help out with this case any time soon."

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"So Ziva should be out of the hospital by now," Jenny said conversationally.

"Yeah. Tony was taking her home."

Jenny stared at him.

"What, Jen?"

She laughed lightly. "You think it's wise to allow them to spend this much time together?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"No reason," Jenny said quickly.

"If you're referring to a certain storyline in Deep Six-"

"Come on, Jethro," Jenny said, laughing. "You so know what I'm talking about."

Gibbs peered at her glass. "How much wine have you had?"

"Same amount as you," she replied, calming down a bit. "I'm just saying, Tony seems to really like her."

Gibbs sighed and stacked up their plates, ready to leave. "I know."

"And you haven't done anything about it?"

"There comes a time when one must accept what cannot be altered," Gibbs said wisely.

Jenny laughed again. "Where'd you get that from?"

"No idea. But it sounded good," he said, walking out.

* * *

A/N REVIEW!!

Otherwise no updates!!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N I have a feeling that people are getting confused with the plot (which is good, because I am too!), so they go over everything in this chapter.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure there will be about 20 chapters (I'm currently working on number 19).

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 15

"Abby?" Gibbs asked as he walked into the forensics lab, holding a Caf-Pow for Abby. He came to a stop suddenly.

McGee was waving his arms in the air in the ballistics lab, mouthing something.

Gibbs gave him a 'what the hell?' look. McGee waved him over.

Seconds later Gibbs was next to McGee. "McGee, what is going on?"

"What do you mean?" he replied distractedly, looking through the window.

Gibbs headslapped him.

"Oh. Right. Well, ever since this whole ordeal with Ziva and the memory loss and everything, Abby has been going nuts. She downed eight large Caf-Pows in two minutes!"

"Your point, McGee?"

"Well, she finally crashed. She's been asleep for an hour and I don't want to wake her."

"So you're hiding in the ballistics lab so you don't wake her?" Gibbs said.

"Exactly. Glad you under…stand…" McGee said slowly, noticing the look on Gibbs' face. "Right, getting back to work now."

They walked into forensics. Gibbs finally saw Abby; lying down on the floor under the plasma.

He looked at McGee pointedly.

"Oh, you want me to wake her up," McGee said, clearly uncomfortable. "Abby. Abby!"

"What?" Abby said, jerking awake. "Is Ziva alright? Is she home? Did she have any tests done? What's going on?"

"Abby, it's alright," Gibbs said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Ziva's fine."

"Alright then." Abby yawned. "So why are you down here? I haven't got anything for you."

Gibbs passed her the drink. McGee groaned.

"Thanks," Abby said, taking a sip.

"Go home. Get some sleep," Gibbs said.

"But I'm not tired!"

Gibbs stared at her.

"Alright. I'm going."

Gibbs watched as Abby left and then turned to McGee. "You go too."

"But-"

"Is it National Argue with the Boss Day?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.

McGee left quickly.

* * *

_Three days later_…

"You do remember what happened the last time you went back to NCIS, right?" Tony asked.

"Why yes, Tony, I do," Ziva replied. They were in the NCIS elevator.

"Then why did you want to come back?"

"Because I'm sick of sitting around doing nothing. I have paperwork I could be doing."

"Really? You wanted to come back to work to do _paperwork_?"

Ziva elbowed him. "I just want to get over this whole thing."

"You don't even have your memories back yet."

Ziva looked appalled. "I nearly do!"

"'Nearly' is different than 'completely', Ziva," Tony said.

The elevator doors opened.

Jenny was in the squadroom with Gibbs. "Ziva," she greeted. "How're you feeling?"

Ziva sat at her desk. "Like I'm ready to get back to-"

"You are not doing any field work until I say so," Gibbs said.

Ziva frowned at him.

Tony laughed.

"Don't you have paperwork you could be doing?" Gibbs said to Ziva, who then began shuffling through her papers.

Tony went over to Gibbs and Jenny. "You got any leads?" he said quietly, trying not to let Ziva hear.

"Mira Nachash. Currently under surveillance. Very touchy about being asked about her family."

They spent the next few minutes discussing the case so everyone was up to speed.

"I can hear you, you know," Ziva said, not taking her eyes off of her work.

Tony turned to face her. "Sorry, Ziva-"

"I'm alright," she said, looking at the team. "Really. I'm alright. It's just another case. Seriously."

Jenny and Gibbs looked at each other, talking to each other with their eyes.

After a moment, Gibbs looked at Ziva. "Alright, we'll go through the entire case with you."

Ziva took a deep breath. "Okay."

Jenny pulled a chair over to Ziva's desk and sat down. "Your father doesn't want you to know some of this-"

"I don't care."

Tony sat at his desk, watching Ziva being strong. After all that she'd been through, she was turning back into the old Ziva. The Ziva he knew.

The Ziva he loved.

"You remember how Jamal went on a business trip before the bombing?" Jenny asked.

"Yes."

"It wasn't a business trip. It was an undercover mission for Mossad."

"Jamal was working for-"

"Let me explain," Jenny cut her off. "Jamal was under investigation for creating several homemade bombs and selling them. His Mossad mission was a test; to see who he'd betray, his bomb-making friends or Mossad itself. He betrayed neither. The mission was inconclusive."

Gibbs cleared his throat. "But one of the four people Jamal was watching, Yusuf Nachash-"

"His whole family had been investigated for terrorism charges years before Jamal's mission," Jenny finished. She gave Gibbs the 'I can explain it better than you' face. "Yusuf is dead now, but because of the investigation his brother, Kasam, was imprisoned."

"Let me guess, Kasam escaped from prison and you think he was the one who blew up my house," Ziva said, preferring to say 'blew up my house' than 'blew up my family'.

"Actually, no. He's still in prison. It's his mother that we're interested in,"

"His mother?"

"Mira Nachash," Jenny said, motioning to Tony. He pushed a few buttons and a picture of Mira appeared on the plasma.

"She lived in my street!" Ziva exclaimed.

"Yes, but that's not all," Jenny continued. "After Kasam was put away, Mira disappeared for a while. She returned three weeks before-"

"She returned just as Jamal began investigating Yusuf, her other son," Ziva said, catching on more.

"Exactly," Jenny said, glad with Ziva's progress. "Our theory is that-"

"Mira realised that Mossad were the ones who caught Kasam and were now investigating Yusuf. She would have wanted revenge on them."

"And it wouldn't have been hard to see that Jamal was the one scrutinizing them. He never had the Mossad training. So Mira finds out that Mossad is trying to capture her one remaining son, and she decides to get even by going after Jamal and his family."

"She was responsible for killing my family. For nearly killing me," Ziva said.

"Yes," Jenny said slowly.

"Well, where is she?" Ziva said.

"Like we said before, she's under surveillance."

Tony sniggered slightly.

"Something funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

Tony shrugged. "I just can't remember the last time the words 'surveillance' and 'investigation' were used in one conversation..it's nothing. Continue," he said, coughing slightly.

Gibbs shook his head.

"You know where she is?" Ziva asked.

"She came voluntarily to America for questioning. She thinks she is just a witness, not a suspect."

"This is so confusing," Ziva said. "But I'm fine. Really. I'm back at work. I'm healed," she added quickly. She had a point – nearly all of her injuries from the warehouse bombing were gone.

"Alright. But take it easy," Jenny said, sounding exactly like a mother. "No stress."

"I know."

Gibbs' phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

He listened to the phone for a minute, his expression growing angrier by the second.

"What is it?" Jenny asked as he hung up.

Gibbs looked murderous. "Mira Nachash has disappeared."

* * *

A/N Please review!

I hope this chapter cleared up the plot a bit for everyone. If not, PM me or something. I want people to enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoy writing it.

Remember: reviews mean love and faster updates.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N Ooo!! I love this chapter!!

It's very sad that I can't Beta my own work without giggling madly.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I literally sat here, staring at the screen, waiting for the eigth review.

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 16

_Gibbs looked murderous. "Mira Nachash has disappeared."_

"What do you mean, she's disappeared? She was under strict surveillance!" Jenny exclaimed.

"There's that word again," Tony muttered.

Gibbs turned to him. "Shut it, DiNozzo."

"I'll contact Homeland Security," Jenny said.

"Why HS?" Ziva asked.

"Because we can get them to make sure Mira doesn't leave the country."

"Can't the FBI do that?"

Jenny looked guilty. "Uh…the FBI aren't going to be involved in this investigation."

"I don't even want to know why," Ziva said.

Jenny pulled out her phone and walked to the windows.

"What do we do Boss?"

Gibbs looked at Tony exasperatedly but ignored the question.

"Okay, Ziva and I will just get out of the way," Tony said. He and Ziva walked out of the squadroom.

* * *

"Once again, it's just you and me, doing nothing, bored out of our brains," Tony said. They were sitting against the hallway wall near the interrogation rooms.

"Yep," Ziva said. She was quite happy. Finally, she knew everything that was going on, that no-one was keeping any secrets from her.

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bouncy ball. "Wanna play?"

Ziva just stared at him incredulously.

"You'd be surprised how entertaining this is," Tony said. He threw it against the wall, let it bounce, then caught it. "This one's yours," he said to Ziva, throwing it against the wall again.

She caught it. "Ha. This is kind of amusing."

After several more turns each, Ziva began losing her concentration. She knew she definitely liked him. But how much?

Tony put his hand out to catch the ball. Ziva grabbed his hand with one of hers, and with the other she reached out to his face and turned it to face her. She leaned in and kissed him, square on the lips.

The ball rolled away aimlessly.

Tony was stunned for a second, but then began kissing her in return, reaching around her waist with his free hand.

Approaching footsteps caused them to break apart.

"DiNozzo, got a job for you," Gibbs said, before returning to the elevator.

Tony started to get up, but sat down quickly again to kiss Ziva lightly on the cheek. Then he got up and ran down the corridor.

* * *

In the elevator, Gibbs turned to face Tony. "Jenny needs those files that Mossad sent over."

Tony looked sideways at him. "Ah. Right. They're in my car."

Gibbs continued to watch Tony. "What did you do?"

Tony looked at him in mock surprise. "Whaddaya mean?"

"You're smiling like an idiot," Gibbs said as he stepped out of the elevator.

Tony pressed the button to take him down to his car.

_Of course I'm smiling,_ he thought. _I just kissed Ziva._

* * *

Ziva was still sitting against the wall, staring at the ball but not actually seeing it.

She had just kissed Tony. _Tony._

Now she was sure. She didn't just like him. She _really _liked him.

She started smiling, but ended up laughing. "Yes!" she exclaimed. She was exhilarated. Happy. Excited.

In love.

* * *

Tony unlocked his car and opened the back door, still grinning ear to ear.

_I kissed Ziva, I kissed Ziva,_ was going round in his head, making him all the more giddy.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, then something hit him over the head, causing him to fall into blackness.

* * *

"Where the hell is DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked two hours later. By now Ziva had returned to her desk, but was still smiling happy.

_I kissed Tony, I kissed Tony, _was going round in her head making her more giggly. Luckily, she was able to contain it.

Mostly. Giggles kept sneaking out.

"I don't know, Jethro,' Jenny said, looking over at Ziva from where she sat at McGee's desk.

McGee walked into the squadroom. "Uh, Boss?"

"What?"

"Tony's car door was open. These were on the ground," he said, holding up a bunch of papers.

Gibbs went into crime solving mode. "Any sign of Tony?"

"No."

Gibbs grabbed the papers and passed them to Jenny. "Check if anything's missing."

Jenny grinned slightly at being treated like one of his agents, just like old times. "Everything's here."

"That means the attack was targeted."

Ziva stopped giggling when she realised there was a problem. "Attack?"

"Tony's been taken," Jenny said as Gibbs left the room to do what he always does best.

Get coffee.

* * *

Tony opened his eyes and looked around.

It was dark, but he recognized the smell.

"Great. Who the hell stashes people in the boot of a car?" he said, even though he knew no-one would hear him.

He could remember going to his car, still on a high about kissing Ziva. He remembered opening the door. He remembered being hit over the head.

Tony rolled over the best he could, what with his hands being bound behind his back and all.

He froze.

Next to him was a red illuminated timer.

Counting down.

Attached to a bundle of C4.

Breathing as slowly as he could, he rolled back over, away from the bomb.

"Oh crap."

* * *

A/N Please review!

I am aware that in America the car boot is referred to as a 'trunk,' but here in good ol' Australia we say boot. It's like the whole 'Mum vs Mom' debate.

Anyway, just thought I'd clarify that.

Also, the whole "I-won't-update-until-I-get-at-least-8-reviews" still stands.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N I was blown away by the number of reviews I got for the last chapter - 24. While that probably isn't many for some people, that's the most I've ever had for a single chapter.

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 17

Gibbs plonked a cup of coffee on Ziva's desk as he walked past.

"Thanks," she mumbled, except she wasn't really in the mood for coffee.

Tony was missing. Gone. Most likely kidnapped.

What should they do?

"Security cameras didn't catch anything," McGee said after several minutes of continuous keyboard pounding. "Tony always parks his car in that spot. Just out of frame."

"Can you see whoever took him?" Jenny asked, watching the plasma.

McGee began typing again. "No. They came in the entrance that is also out of frame."

"Next year security is getting a boost of funding," Jenny muttered to herself.

"So we have nothing," Gibbs said, always the one to point that out.

Jenny and McGee looked at each other. "Yep."

"Does anyone else think it's just a coincidence that Mira Nachash disappeared and now Tony has been kidnapped?" Ziva said, trying to think of Tony being some random person, not the person she loved.

Why was this happening to her? First she lost her husband and son, now she might lose the one other person she considered herself able to be happy with.

"Why would Mira go after Tony?"

* * *

"Freaking unbelievable," Tony muttered, trying to snap the tape off his hands. He had managed to determine that the bomb was a fake, but it sure as hell had given him a fright.

The boot lid flung open.

"Good. You are still here," a voice said. It was muffled slightly by the wind, and Tony couldn't recognize it.

"Well of course I'm still here. How the hell am I supposed to get out?" he said. He was glad there wasn't tape over his mouth as well; right now verbal abuse was his only venting mechanism.

"Just checking," the voice said again. Tony couldn't see enough of the speaker to recognize them.

The boot slammed shut.

Furious, Tony adjusted himself so he was more comfortable.

He felt something near his hip.

His phone. He'd been kidnapped and locked in a boot, yet he still had his phone.

Cool.

He listened for a moment, trying to hear if anyone was still outside the car.

Nothing.

Carefully, he moved his hip against the boot floor so the phone came up out of his pocket.

"Yes!"

Now came the hard part. Dialling with his hands behind his back. Thank God he was so good at Tetris – otherwise he'd have no idea which keys were which.

* * *

"Mira Nachash is an evil little-"

"Ziva!" Jenny said. "We don't know that she has Tony."

"You have proof to the country?"

"Contrary, Ziva. Proof to the contrary."

"Yes, that."

Jenny didn't answer. They all believed that Mira had Tony.

"Boss! Got something!" McGee exclaimed. "That coffee place down the street installed security cameras after that break in they had a while ago."

"And?"

"Only three cars drove past in the time frame that Tony was taken."

"Still waiting for the point, McGee."

"One of the cars in a rental. They just emailed me to say that the car was rented out about half and hour after you released her."

Gibbs looked at Jenny. "Whoever was supposed to be tailing her-"

"Did a crappy job, I know. Can we move on from that now?" Jenny said impatiently.

"The car doesn't have a GPS device. There is no way we can trace it," McGee said disappointedly.

Ziva had her head in her hands, but was distracted by her phone ringing.

It stopped ringing suddenly, then started again.

"McGee, what's it doing?" she asked, holding it up.

"Someone is pranking you," McGee replied, getting up and going over to her.

"Pranking?"

"Calling you just long enough for your phone to start ringing but then hanging up."

Ziva still looked confused.

"Kids do it a lot. They prank their parents, signalling for the parents to ring back."

"Ah."

"So who's doing it?" Gibbs asked.

McGee went through the log. "It's Tony."

"What?"

"It's Tony!"

* * *

"Dammit," Tony said. He was able to get the call through, but his shaking hands keep making him drop the phone, which disconnected the call.

He tried again. Same thing happened.

"Come on," he breathed, trying yet again.

* * *

"Tony's calling?"

"He keeps hanging up though," McGee said. "No point tracing it. The calls aren't long enough."

"Why don't we call him?" Jenny asked. Everyone looked at her. "Just a suggestion."

"Do it, McGee," Gibbs instructed.

"I'll prepare the trace in case we get through," he said.

Everyone gathered around McGee's desk. "Dialling now," he said as he pushed the speaker button.

* * *

Tony swore loudly as his shoulder dislocated his shoulder. But at least now he had his hands in front of him.

He fumbled with the phone again.

It started ringing.

"Oh my God," he muttered. He pushed random buttons on the keypad, hoping that one of them was the answer button.

He could hear a faint voice.

"_DiNozzo?! Tony?!"_

"I'm here!" he shouted. He pushed more buttons until he hit the speaker button, thankful he didn't hang up. He pushed the phone up closer to his face. "Boss?"

* * *

"Oh my God," Jenny breathed. "He's alive."

"Of course he's alive," Gibbs said breezily, as if he hadn't been worried in the first place.

"_Boss? You still there?"_

Ziva was almost crying, whether with relief or happiness she didn't know. She couldn't keep the smile from her face.

"Where are you?" Gibbs said.

"_Car boot somewhere. No idea." _Tony sounded breathless.

"Are you alright?" Jenny asked.

"_Dislocated shoulder. I'm fine," _he replied.

"We're tracing your phone now," Gibbs said, watching as McGee pounded his keyboard. "We're-"

Suddenly there was a loud clicking sound, a voice saying something in a foreign language, and then the phone disconnected.

* * *

A/N Reviews are loved. If I can get as many reviews for this chapter as I did for the last, I will be absolutely estatic.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N Woohoo!! 14 reviews on Chapter 17!!

Keep it up! I love them!!

If I get enough review I might post later tonight or tomorrow morning. Yay!!

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 18

_Previously…_

"_We're tracing your phone now," Gibbs said, watching as McGee pounded his keyboard. "We're-"_

_Suddenly there was a loud clicking sound, a voice saying something in a foreign language, and then the phone disconnected._

Jenny blinked. "What just happened?"  
"Call disconnected on Tony's end," McGee said, typing frantically.

Ziva sat at her desk, head in her hands, tears almost dripping through her fingers. This was too much.

"Did we get a trace, McGee?" Gibbs said.

"Hang on a second-"

"We don't have a second!" Gibbs exclaimed. Jenny put her hand on his shoulder and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Got it," McGee announced.

"Where the hell is DiNozzo?" Gibbs said quietly, peering at the screen.

Ziva looked up from her hands, remembering.

_Tony's car exploded, and everyone in MTAC gaped at the screen._

"_Oh my God," Jenny said._

_Ziva stared at the screen. "Tony."_

_Her heart was racing, she was panicking._

Ziva zoned back in on where she was sitting.

She thought about what she had just seen.

Tony had been 'killed', and she had felt more emotion that she had in ages.

She did love him.

She had loved him for years.

Now she remembered.

It wasn't just a recent thing.

"Got the GPS coordinates from Tony's phone," McGee said, scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Let's go," Gibbs said.

Ziva went to follow him, but he stopped her.

"Ziva, your stress levels-"

"Will be higher if I sit here doing nothing. Let me go with you."

After a glaring match between them, Gibbs caved. "Alright. Let's go."

* * *

Tony was still in the boot, bouncing slightly as the car moved. The boot had opened, his captor had grabbed his phone, and shut him away again.

Now he had no chance of contacting the team.

He began to lose hope.

_If you die,_ he said to himself,_ if you die you will never have told Ziva how you feel._

_But do you feel anything for her?_

_Of course you do. _

_How do you know?_

_Why else would you be thinking about her right now before you die?_

* * *

Gibbs was driving.

McGee was in the back seat. "Boss, do you think we could-"

"McGee, if we slow down they'll be gone by the time we get there," Ziva interrupted. She didn't have a problem with the speed. If anything, she thought they should be going faster.

"Four more miles," Gibbs said, glancing at the GPS.

Ziva was fidgeting. Words kept replaying over in her head.

_You have to tell him. You have to tell him._

* * *

"Finally," Tony said as the car came to a stop.

His bad shoulder slammed into the wall.

"Shi-"

The boot lid flew open. "Get out."

Tony blinked, dazzled by the sunlight. "What?"

A pair of hands grabbed him and forced him up. By now, he hadn't the energy to fight back.

As the person led him inside an old house and up some stairs, Tony looked at their face.  
"Hey, I know you…" he said, racking his brains for a location.

The person, who Tony could now tell was a woman, pushed him into a room.

He fell, landing again on his shoulder.

"I swear, if I never regain full use of this arm I will-"

"Be quiet," the woman snapped.

Tony looked at her face again. "The hospital…I ran into you. You walked off."

The woman smiled. "Very good," she said.

"That's why you kidnapped me. Because I know Ziva."

She walked out of the room without answering, locking the door behind her before Tony could even stand up again.

How was he supposed to escape? Locked door, only one window, not able to be opened.

"Fantastic," he said. "Freaking fantastic."

* * *

Gibbs pulled the car to a halt. "We're here."

All three of them got out and waited for the dust to clear.

Empty highway. No cars. No houses for miles.

"Found something," McGee said, bending down. "Looks like Tony's phone."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, no, it's kind of…smashed," McGee finished. Sure enough, the phone was in little pieces.

"Where do we go from here?" Ziva said, throwing her hands up slightly in exasperation.

"Tire tracks,' Gibbs said, pointing to a patch in the dirt. "Looks fairly recent."

"We should follow them. They lead that way,' Ziva said, gesturing.

McGee looked at her. "What if the car pulled out but then turned around?"

"We'll have to take that risk."

"What if the tracks aren't even from the car that Tony's in?" McGee argued.

"Is there any particular reason you're taking the negative side?" Ziva snapped.

_You have to find him. You have to tell him. You have to find him. You have to tell him._

"I'm just thinking of all the possibilities-"

"Enough!" Gibbs said. He wasn't particularly fond of standing around in the middle of nowhere.

"Gibbs, we should follow where the tracks lead," Ziva said.

"Why? How do you know?"

Ziva sighed. "My gut."

* * *

Now Tony knew who she was.

The woman from the hospital. The woman currently holding him hostage.

Mira Nachash.

The woman involved in killing Ziva's husband and son.

Tony's arm was still smarting from it's latest blow. He had considered smashing the window, but the sound of breaking glass would alert Mira, who would undoubtedly come looking.

Tony walked over the window, examining it. The frame was beginning to fall off the wall; cracks were emerging all around.

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife, struck with a sudden inspiration.

He grinned. "Show time."

* * *

A/N Review review review!!

Seriously. I'm on a high because of all of the reviews. Yay!!

Two more chapters to go!!


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

A/N Sooo excited about last night's episode!! Two weeks and Season 6 is on here! (pfft. I'm still gonna watch it earlier. Lol.)

Bear in mind that I have no idea how a window is constructed. I just make things up as I go.

Also, these chapters are getting kinda weird…

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 19

After cutting his hands apart, Tony began prying the window frame off the wall. After a few moments he had three of the four pieces of wood lying by his feet.

Taking a closer look, Tony saw that now the glass could be easily pushed out. After doing so, he finally had an escape route.

Next problem – how would her get out of a second story window with a dislocated shoulder?

* * *

"This is the place?" McGee said as the team got out of the car. They had arrived at a very dilapidated house surround by trees, but had parked a small distance away incase someone looked out the window.

"It's the only place for miles," Ziva reasoned.

"Fits the whole cliché 'house in the middle of nowhere' thing. Why don't criminals find other places to hide people?"

"Mira Nachash isn't a normal criminal. Bombs are her specialty, not kidnapping," Gibbs said. "McGee, you take the outside. Ziva, you're with me, we'll take the interior."

"Right."

McGee waited until Gibbs and Ziva were inside before heading around the back. Halfway around the house, he heard a soft thudding noise. Drawing his gun, he headed around the back.

* * *

"Clear upstairs first," Gibbs said quietly to Ziva. She walked off.

"Clear!" she called from down the hall.

"They should be here," Gibbs muttered, mostly to himself.

After checking the upstairs rooms, they headed downstairs, Ziva in the lead.

"Ziva," Gibbs said quietly, coming to a halt.

"What?"

Gibbs pushed open the door that was next to him and headed inside.

They both froze.

* * *

Tony shoved his fist in his mouth to prevent himself from making noise. Sliding through the window and rolling off the roof onto the ground hadn't exactly been comfortable.

He heard someone coming around the side. _Crap,_ he thought. _Probably Mira._

Moving as fast as he could he went to the other side of the house.

* * *

"Gibbs…" Ziva said softly, staring at the scene in front of them.

Mira Nachash was lying on the bed, blood slowly dripping from the gunshot wound on the side of her head.

The gun was in her hand.

"Killed herself. Must've figured we were onto her," Gibbs said, advancing into the room. "Then-" He stopped again.

Strapped to Mira's body was a bomb.

Ziva stepped forward to examine it. "Wires connected to C4 packages," she said. Altogether, there were about 100 packages of explosives.

"So where's the detonator?" Gibbs said.

Ziva carefully lifted up the corner of Mira's jacket.

It was a timer.

"C'mon, Ziva," Gibbs said urgently, moving towards the door. "We'll get EOD out here."

Ziva didn't move.

"Ziva, we have less than five minutes, let's go."

"We still don't know where Tony is. He could still be here. This bomb goes off, and he dies," Ziva said, kneeling down at pulling a knife out from her back holster.

"Ziva-"

Ziva turned her head to look at him.

And then he saw it. The look of pure desperation in Ziva's eyes made him believe her. He'd never seen that expression on her face.

"Get McGee out of here. I'll get this done," Ziva said, turning back to the bomb. She couldn't bring herself to look at the face of the woman who killed her husband and son, and was quite possibly about to kill the only other person Ziva had ever loved.

Gibbs left the room.

* * *

McGee was now sure that someone else was outside. Every few minutes he heard labored breathing.

"McGee," Gibbs said as he came through the back door. "We're-"

"Boss, there's someone else here," McGee said.

Gibbs stopped. "Who?"

"Well, I haven't seen them, but I've heard someone walking and breathing."

Gibbs considered this for a moment, but shook his head. "Bigger issue; Mira Nachash is dead inside with a bomb strapped to her body. Ziva's in there now trying to defuse it. There's probably enough C4 to blow up this entire property, not just the house."

McGee paled slightly.

* * *

Tony was walking in circles, round and round the house, trying to avoid whoever was also outside.

Where was he supposed to go? He needed medical attention; his arm was now excruciating.

He sat down against the wall for a quick rest, but was distracted by voices.

"…enough C4 to blow up this entire property, not just the house."

Tony froze. He knew that voice.

"Ziva'll signal us when she's done, c'mon," Gibbs said.

Tony heard two sets of footsteps – _McGee must be with him_, he thought – walk away. Gingerly pushing himself off the ground, he got up. He wanted to run after them, but what if Mira spotted him from a window?

_Stuff it,_ he thought. He began walking as fast as he could towards where Gibbs and McGee had gone.

"Boss," he called out, but he was nowhere near loud enough. He walked behind the trees to avoid detection, but made his way to the car.

* * *

"So what do we do now?" McGee asked as they leant on the car.

"Wait for Ziva," Gibbs said.

He heard a noise behind them

"Boss."

"Tony!" McGee exclaimed as Tony approached them.

"What the hell…" Gibbs said. He could tell by the angle Tony was holding his arm that something was wrong. "What did you do?"

"Yeah, Boss, I'm fine-"

"DiNozzo."

"Dislocated shoulder. Accident," Tony said.

Gibbs nodded slightly to McGee, who got the message.

"What happened?" he asked, moving to stand behind Tony, making him turn around.

"Mira Nachash got me. Was in a car boot for a while, then- holy mother of…" he yelled as Gibbs came up behind him and quickly snapped his arm back into place. "Little bit of warning would be nice next time."

"Hurts less if you don't see it coming," Gibbs said.

Tony rolled his shoulders around. "Hah. Much better. Thanks."

"So what happened after you got here?" McGee asked.

"Got out through the window. Spent about ten minutes running away from some other person who was outside, which only turned about to be you."

"Only?"

"So why would Mira kidnap you?" Gibbs asked.

"I ran into her at the hospital. She must have figured I was with Ziva, seeing as I was coming out of her room. Seeing as she hates Ziva so much, she took me to get more revenge," Tony said. "Or something like that."

"Fair enough."

"Where's Ziva?" Tony said suddenly. He had to tell her. He had to tell her how he felt.

"Mira Nachash is dead. Suicide. Strapped a bomb to herself before pulling the trigger. Ziva's inside trying to defuse it," Gibbs said.

Tony's eyes widened. "Why the hell would she be trying to defuse it? Why didn't she come out with you guys?"

"She thought you might still be in the house. Didn't want to bomb to go off and kill you," Gibbs said bluntly.

"So she's in there?" Tony said. "How long until the bomb detonates?"

"About-"

The house exploded.

* * *

A/N ……

Muah ha ha ha ha!

I wanna see how many reviews I can get for this chapter. At this very moment, I have 9 (yes, I've changed the document just to add this - LOL). Anyway, I wanna see if I can top my record of 24. Review please!!

One more chapter to go!


	20. Chapter 20

* * *

A/N Wow. Lots of angry Remember fans out there...people don't seem to like my cliffhangers. Lol.

My bad.

So this is the last chapter. Squee!!

ANYONE ELSE SEEN THE NEW PROMO!! OMG I CAN'T WAIT!!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Broke my record - got 26 reviews. Let's see if I can break it again!!

Enjoy!!

* * *

Chapter 20

"ZIVA!" Tony yelled, moving forward.

Gibbs grabbed his arm. "Tony-"

"Boss, come on, we have to get to her!" Tony said.

Gibbs saw the same desperation in his eyes that he'd seen in Ziva's. This was more than enough proof – they were more than partners.

"Tony, she would have been right next to the bomb when it went off," McGee said, trying to keep the grief from his voice. "She-"

"No. No, I am not losing her again," Tony said. "That first explosion was enough. She's alive. She has to be," he said, looking at the burning house.

Gibbs released his arm. "We'll all go. McGee, you and I will take the inside. Tony, you take the outside."

"Boss-"

"DiNozzo, it wasn't a request," Gibbs said, trying to brace himself for seeing yet another member of his team dead.

"Fine."

They all headed their separate directions.

* * *

Surprisingly, a large amount of the house was stable. Obviously Gibbs had been wrong about the strength of the C4.

He led McGee to the room where Mira had been.

Apart from burning furniture and debris, the room was empty. No body parts.

Nothing.

McGee cleared his throat. "Boss…d'you…do you think Ziva…Ziva…"

Gibbs, who had uncharacteristically hoping that by some miracle Ziva would be fine, walked out of the room. McGee followed.

* * *

Tony was breathing shallowly.

Ziva, _his _Ziva, was dead. He knew she was dead. He just didn't want to believe it.

Now he'd never get to tell her how he felt.

He felt a tear run down his cheek as he headed back.

* * *

The team were all sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, not sure what to do now. EOD had been called, just to make sure, and other investigators were on their way.

A coughing noise from far away made Gibbs look up.

"Ziva?"

* * *

_Ten minutes ago_…

Ziva was quickly trying to defuse the bomb, but she couldn't focus.

_Look at yourself,_ she thought. _Tony's probably dead and here you are trying to save him. He's gone._

_What if he's not gone?_

_He is. You know it. Stop denying it._

_If he was dead I would feel it._

_How? How would you feel it?_

_I love him._

"I love him," she murmured. She had to save him.

She glanced at the timer.

0:13.

She remembered something.

"_This has got to be the stupidest thing any human being has ever done," Tony said as he climbed up after Ziva._

"_Then why are you following me Tony?" Ziva replied._

"_I don't freaking know!"  
They positioned themselves on either side of the bomb._

"_Hold this," Ziva said, passing him a phone._

"_Do you have any idea what's going to happen if this cell phone rings? Tony said._

_Ziva continued to work._

"_I can see down your shirt right now," Tony said._

_Ziva smiled._

Ziva shook her head. _Stop thinking about it. Concentrate._

The bomb was much more intricate than she had thought. Wire crossed where they shouldn't be crossing, they connected in the wrong places.

The timer bleeped.

0:05

Abandoning everything, Ziva got up and ran for the back door.

The house exploded.

* * *

_In the present…_

"Ziva…what…Ziva?" McGee said.

Tony got up and looked around; there was Ziva running towards him. He stepped forward and put his arms around her, holding her as tightly as he could. Then, without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that both Gibbs and McGee were watching, Tony kissed her.

Ziva ran her hand through his hair, returning the kiss with everything she felt.

Gibbs cleared his throat.

Tony moved his head so his chin was on her shoulder. "I love you," he whispered, his words only heard by her.

Ziva sighed, her breath tickling his ear. "I love you too."

* * *

By the time they got back to the squadroom, McGee had called Jenny and Abby to fill them in.

They walked into the squadroom to find Abby standing directly in front of the elevator.

"TONY! ZIVA!" she yelled, throwing herself at them with such force that they were knocked off their feet.

Gibbs pulled her off them.

Jenny was standing over near their desks, and noticed that when they all came over that Tony and Ziva were standing unusually close. She raised her eyebrows at Gibbs, who smirked and nodded.

"Abby, stop bouncing. You're making me jittery," McGee said.

Abby stopped bouncing.

"So everything is normal now?" she asked, looking at Ziva.

Ziva smiled. "Everything is back to how it was."

Tony snorted slightly. "Things aren't exactly the same."

And with that he swept her up in his arms and tipped her backwards, leaning in to kiss her again.

--

_The End_

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A/N You didn't think I'd kill Ziva, did you? Lol. Without Ziva, there would be no Tiva. There'd just be 'T', and that isn't nearly as exciting.

So that's the end!! Kind of fast, I know.

i really wanna thank everyone who reviewed. Seriously. Reading reviews makes my day.

Until next story…

- PJ630

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